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OBSESSIONS
The Pluck of the Irish Chef JP McMahon wants to
change the way you think about Irish cooking.
By Jay Cheshes
TASTEMAKER
FEBRUARY 2020
CHEF JP MCMAHON HAS THE PHYSICAL BEARING OF A PIRATE
crossed with a college professor. As I scan the crowd at the
Galway farmers market on a recent morning, he’s hard to miss:
ample red beard, wire-rimmed glasses, and arms tattooed with
portraits of David Bowie, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett.
“The market is having a revival,” he says after we’ve started
our stroll among its stalls, laden with organic produce from the
west of Ireland, artisanal cheeses from across the country, and
pristine seafood plucked from Irish seas.
“Jesus, these are absolutely huge.” He pauses near a stack of
monster oysters at his fishmonger’s bountiful bivalve display.
We continue past his poultry supplier, The Friendly Farmer,
sharing a shingle with another farmer who stocks his three
Galway restaurants with beef, lamb, and pork. “When we opened
our first place 11 years ago, these guys just came to the door,”
McMahon says. “They were among the first farmers to say, ‘Let’s
sell our products direct,’ and we were among the first to buy
from them. And then everything in the city just grew from that.” PHOTOGRAPHY: ED SCHOFIELD
