Gastrogays: On self-indulgence and their unique approach to eating

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.

“We’re both Eurovision nuts, our favourite song being ‘Shady Lady’, the 2008 Ukrainian entry by Ani Lorak,” the latter takes-over. “The air-raid siren vocals, the fireworks, the spangly costume, the synchronised male dancers, the kitchen sink – it has everything! Learning how to cook was a necessity born out of no longer living at home with the folks in Balbriggan (him) and Drogheda (me) and having meals presented to us every night. Having studied communications at DCU, I got a head content provider job on the RTÉ Food website, which meant I got to speak to chefs and get to grips with the industry.”

Russell, meanwhile, was “working in the M&S food hall with a staff discount burning a hole in my pocket.”

“The interest became a passion, then the passion became an obsession and we thought we’d start blogging about it,” he explains.

Based for a couple of years in London – “We made complete gluttons of ourselves there!” Russell confesses – the duo decided to move home when their scribblings came to the attention of TV3’s The Six O’Clock Show.

“Suddenly we were in a TV kitchen thinking, ‘What the fuck are we doing?’” Russell resumes. “It’s live, so if you spill hot oil over yourself they can’t edit out the screams. The propensity for disaster was huge but we muddled our way through and the next day had strangers coming up to us and saying, ‘You were great last night on the telly!’ which was a massive buzz. Some people have to ramp up the energy levels when they go on TV whereas we have to tone it down!”

Along with regular TV3 appearances, the GastroGays spent a chunk of last year showcasing artisan Irish produce at food festivals – Bertha’s Revenge gin, Toonsbridge mozzarella, Inch House black pudding, Durrus cheese, Cashel Blue and its sheepy Crozier Blue cousin are just a handful of their ‘must-tries’ – and have several other projects in the pipeline (we’re sworn to secrecy!) that will make them impossible to ignore in 2018.

“The ultimate would be if we could get to cook with Ani Lorek at the Eurovision in Russia in May,” Patrick concludes. “Or if Marty Whelan fancies taking a year off, we can present it as well!”

The GastroGays will be picking more of their foodie faves in our upcoming Best Of Ireland special. gastrogays.com