While they’d hate to be responsible for the hardening of anybody’s arteries, it’s fair to say that Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford, AKA the GastroGays, wouldn’t hold much culinary truck with that other super-enthused foodie duo, the Happy Pear twins.

“We’re the anti-Pear or quare-Pear in that our answer to most things is, ‘Add more cream, butter and cheese – preferably all together,’” laughs Russell, the blonde-haired one. “That healthy living thing can be militant, to the point of, ‘You shouldn’t eat because you might fart.’ We always say, ‘Embrace indulgence… as long as there’s occasionally a bit of roughage in your diet!’”

A shared love of food wasn’t the only thing that attracted Russell to Patrick when their eyes met across a crowded DCU lecture hall.