Peter Ward and wife Mary, have been passionate champions of local food since they opened Country Choice, Nenagh in 1982. It was a time before small local producers were celebrated, but they could see the bounty that was available. Peter remembers discovering wonderful people who were showing food at the county and agricultural shows. ‘If you went to these shows, you could get an endless supply of ducks, geese, Madeira cakes, apple tarts, jam, tomatoes and Beauty of Bath apples. That was the bedrock of my business at the time.’

An advocate of local indigenous Irish food, Peter Ward has worked tirelessly at both local and national level throughout his professional life to remove the barriers to the advancement of the artisan sector in Ireland. He believes everyone has a role to play in supporting ‘the butcher, the baker and the artisan’ today rather than bemoaning their loss tomorrow.