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Food On The Edge Brings The World To Galway

Thibault Van de Sompele By Thibault Van de Sompele 2 min read Published

In Short

In 2015 McMahon launches Food on the Edge, an international symposium that brings top chefs and food thinkers to Galway every year.

  • Food on the Edge was first held in Galway in 2015[1][2].
  • The first edition featured more than 40 speakers[2].
  • Each year it hosts about 400 chefs and food professionals and around 300 audience members[1].
  • The ninth edition took place in 2024[1].

Chefs often work alone in their kitchens. JP McMahon wanted to bring them together. In 2015 he launched Food on the Edge in Galway[1][2].

It is a symposium, a gathering where chefs and food thinkers give talks, share ideas and argue about the future of food. McMahon is its founder and director[1].

A Strong Start

The first edition, in 2015, had more than 40 speakers[2]. For a city on the western edge of Europe, it was quite a line-up. The name fits: Food on the Edge, both in place and in ideas.

Growing Every Year

The event has kept going. The ninth edition took place in 2024[1]. Each year about 400 chefs and food professionals take part, with around 300 people in the audience[1].

Running it is not easy. Ticket sales cover only about 40% of the costs[1]. The rest must be found elsewhere, year after year. McMahon has kept it alive anyway.

Themes For The Future

Every year has a theme. In 2025 the theme was evolution[1]. The talks look at how cooking, farming and eating are changing, and how chefs can help shape what comes next.

Food on the Edge also fits McMahon's wider mission. At Aniar he cooks only Irish produce. At the symposium he puts Irish food in conversation with the rest of the world[1][2].

A Busy Life

It is one role among many. He is a chef, restaurateur, author, columnist, playwright and painter, and he lectures in art history[1]. Few chefs juggle so many lives at once.

The Staff Canteen saw it as part of a bigger picture. McMahon, it noted, focuses on Irish and west of Ireland produce and is not afraid to speak about the struggles of the trade[2]. The symposium gave those ideas a stage.

Thanks to Food on the Edge, each year the small city of Galway becomes one of the places where the food world comes to think out loud[1][2].

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these sources. Each number in the text points to the source it came from.

  1. Press Foodservice Consultant (FCSI): Local hero: Chef Jp McMahon in profile · fcsi.org · consulted
  2. Press The Staff Canteen: JP McMahon, chef patron, Aniar, Galway · thestaffcanteen.com · consulted