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But Darina has still defended running the classes, saying she felt a strong responsibility towards the students who had arrived in Ireland in late December for two weeks of quarantine. They had travelled long distances. Some have taken three-month career breaks. We felt we had a duty of care to these students, said the chef.
The students had reportedly booked residential places on Ballymaloe’s 12-week Certificate Course, due to start on January 4, but were left in limbo when a full level 5 lockdown was announced on December 30.
Darina explained that after their 14-day quarantine, the students agreed to enter a ‘Ballymaloe bubble .
In recent years it has been working to make the brand more appealing to the younger generation.
Presenter and influencer James Kavanagh, who has close to 150,000 followers on Instagram, previously attended the course and regularly shared updates about the experience.
The Allen family has always sought to revolutionise the business to keep up with the times. Myrtle, and later her daughter-in-law Darina, turned a successful restaurant and farm shop into a major food operation and a household name, later branching out into cookbooks and specialised products such as Ballymaloe Relish.
Rachel Allen is now the modern face of Ballymaloe, regularly seen on TV. She originally trained there as a chef and later fell in love with Darina’s son, Isaac. The pair married in 1998 and later opened up their own restaurant, Rachel’s, in Cork.