Irish Food Lovers Savor Irish March Madness at "The Irish Kitchen"

March 8, 2013 - PRLog -- In March, the official Irish-American heritage month centered on St Patrick's Day, Americans renew their appetites for all things Irish, including its tastes, foods, recipes and all the traditions of the table and kitchen.

To satisfy their appetites for Irish recipes, The Irish Kitchen launched in beta last summer as an on-demand video cookbook. The Irish Kitchen is professionally staged, shot in HD and designed to showcase quality brands at their best and in a fresh new light. The series' on-screen host is the personable Irish goods-curator Rachel Gaffney of Rachel Gaffney's Real Ireland, and well-known to readers of Gourmet and Martha Stewart Living. Hailing from County Cork but living in Texas, Rachel epitomizes the traditional-meets-contemporary approach to Irish recipes and foods shared by The Irish Kitchen.

Bord Bia (Irish Food Board), the Irish Dairy Board, master cheese-makers Kerry Gold and Burren Smokehouse Salmon sponsored the initial eight episodes currently in syndication on Hulu, ATT Uverse, AOL, and foodie sites such as iFood.

As the production's success has created opportunities for more brands to be involved, series creators Handmade TV and Brandhalo now extend another warm Irish welcome to quality brands and engaging personalities with Irish connections, inviting them to be part of the development to expand the programming into a full-blown video cookbook with 100 video recipes to be syndicated to cultural and food websites worldwide, and offered as an e-book in iOS, Android and Windows 8.

"We see The Irish Kitchen as a media opportunity for effectively spotlighting very authentic Irish brands, chefs and recipes, and envision the programming infused with Irish-American brands and recipes as well," Handmade TV's founder and executive producer Bob Altman said. "We are looking forward to finding the right chefs from Ireland and America and seeing what they cook up in The Irish Kitchen."

"Early American pioneers came from Northern Ireland back in the 1700s, so we know there are great old recipes out there that have evolved with a unique American flavor. The Irish love to mix it up with other cultures so there are recipes in North America and in Ireland can get very imaginative," Patrick Sean Flaherty of Brandhalo said.

The series looks to attract American brands such as Tabasco, founded by the Scots-Irish McIlhenny family in 1868, to bring its piquant Louisiana pop to hearty Irish dishes.

HandmadeTV's first video cookbook, The Holiday Kitchen has garnered 30 million video views and Altman and Flaherty see The Irish Kitchen becoming just as popular.

"Consumers love to view us on their iPads as they cook or peruse their smartphones while strolling the grocery aisle. It's a great way for brands to engage with consumers during the decision process when they're focused on cooking," Altman said. "Now we're looking for the best heritage Irish recipes, the right Irish-related food brands, and the most engaging chefs as together we build out The Irish Kitchen."

Sample video: http://vimeo.com/34964465



To explore featuring a brand on The Irish Kitchen, please contact:
pflaherty@brandhalo.com or bob@handmadetv.com at http://handmadetv.com/