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Myrtle Allen Memorial Lecture to examine if food can be both tasty and healthy
One of the world’s leading experts on gut health will give a free public lecture in University College Cork (UCC) at the annual Adult Continuing Education’s Myrtle Allen Memorial Lecture.
This lecture celebrates the legacy of Mrs Allen and her contribution to Irish Food Culture. On Saturday May 9th 1964, Myrtle Allen opened the Yeats Room Restaurant in her home in Ballymaloe in East Cork. From that time onward, the space, named after the Allen's collection of Jack B. Yeats paintings that hung in the restaurant room, would come to symbolise a remodelled food culture that valued what we now recognise as the vocabulary of sustainability: local, seasonal, and regional foods with a tangible and meaningful connection to people and place.
Professor Jens Walter, one of the world’s leading experts on gut health, based at APC Microbiome Ireland, a world leading research centre at UCC, will deliver the 2025 Myrtle Allen Memorial Lecture. Professor Walter will present on the subject ‘Can Food Be Both Tasty and Healthy? A Scientific Take on Myrtle Allen’s Food Philosophy.’
Professor Walter’s research focuses on nutrition and gut health in traditional societies where the consumption of processed and industrially produced foods is typically very limited. Jens will align his recent research findings with the food philosophy of Myrtle Allen. In this presentation, Jens will discuss the effects of industrially processed foods on the gut microbiome and human health. He will speak about his team’s research evaluating the health and microbiome impacts of a diet modelled on traditional, non-industrialized dietary patterns. These findings underscore the relevance of several core principles central to Mrs. Allen’s food philosophy.
‘Myrtle Allen recognised that healthy food should be delicious—and delicious food healthy—and by providing practical means to realize this vision, Mrs. Allen was a pioneer whose insights remain pertinent to current efforts to promote healthier eating” states Professor Walter
“For anyone interested in Irish food culture, food and health and wellbeing, and how we might design future approaches to consumption and dietary behaviours, this event is not to be missed” comments Regina Sextion, Culinary Historian at UCC.
The lecture occurs on Tuesday, 27 May 2025, 6.00 to 7.15 p.m. in the Hub in University College Cork. Booking is essential at this link.