So next year has been nominated a year of food by the Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster At the start of March she highlighted a new initiative aimed at giving more tourists an appetite to visit Northern Ireland.
Announcing that next year, 2016, will be Northern Ireland’s Year of Food, the Minister called on everyone to get involved in giving visitors a taste of what makes our local menus so special.
Food tourism generates over £350 million per year to the local economy according to the minister, who also launched a new agri –food body- a marketing body to be set up to promote Northern Ireland's food and drinks industry, in a bid to grow the agri-food sector and create more jobs.
She said Northern Ireland's agri-food industry was "hugely important", with almost 100,000 jobs including farming, fishing, retail and distribution.
