Celebrate Every One of Ireland’s most popular foodies shares recipes and tips for embracing simple yet vibrant dishes BY MARY SUBIALKA
52 real food summer 2022
D
onal Skehan flipped his first pancake when he was four years old, sparking a lifelong interest in food. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1986, Skehan started one of the country’s first food blogs in 2007 called Good Mood Food, which evolved into a cookbook of the same name. The self-taught cook drew audiences with his enthusiasm for whipping up delicious and approachable healthy meals, and his first series on Irish television soon followed. After making appearances on television and giving cooking demonstrations at social events, he was featured in his own weekly food program, “Kitchen Hero” in 2011 and published a cookbook based on the series,
“Kitchen Hero—Bringing Cooking Back Home.” Skehan judged some of the U.K.’s young cooks on BBC’s “Junior MasterChef ” in 2012, and in 2013, after appearing on Jamie Oliver’s YouTube channel, Skehan launched his own YouTube channel which has since grown to over a million subscribers. His travels have taken him to many parts of the globe over the last decade. He learned from “nonnas” on Fox International’s “Grandma’s Boy,” and he presented a series for Food Network, “Follow Donal,” exploring Vietnam in a four-part series and then visiting 10 European cities in the second installment of the series, which aired in 2015. He has also appeared on HBO Max, NBC’s “Today” show, “Rachael Ray” and more. Now one of Ireland’s most-popular foodies, he has written 10 cookbooks and offers up recipes from everyday eating with family and friends to dishes inspired by his travels in Europe and Southeast Asia.
