Catherine Fulvio: 'I accidentally went swimming with sharks in the dark'
Catherine Fulvio at Cloughmore Stone, Rostrevor. Pic: Dan Butler
TV chef, food writer, and Ballyknocken House & Cookery School owner, Catherine Fulvio is always up for an adventure: In her new two-part series, Catherine Fulvio’s St Patrick’s Way, she takes a 132-kilometre pilgrimage through Armagh and County Down, uncovering rich landscape and, naturally, incredible cuisine.
From food markets to accidentally swimming with sharks, she shares her most memorable adventures.
Because my mum opened a farmhouse bed and breakfast, she was busy cooking three meals a day for guests, and we helped out during the summer. This meant our family holiday was always on Halloween, and always in Ireland.
The weather was never brilliant, but we didn’t mind at all. We were so thrilled to be on the road. We used to do road trips. We went everywhere — Killarney on the horse and traps, Connemara, but I think my favourite was Co Sligo. I just loved the peace. I had just started secondary school, and we were studying at the time, and it was just so beautiful driving around the lakes there.
Accidentally swimming with sharks in the Maldives at night. I was staying in an overwater bungalow, and after dinner, went for a swim.
My husband said, ‘I don’t know about this, I can feel something,’ but I thought nothing of it. The next morning, I sat on the balcony with a coffee, looking down, and saw baby sharks circling beneath us. I thought, ‘What was I thinking?!’ Later in the holiday, I got brave enough to try snorkelling. Out of nowhere, these giant manta rays started surrounding me. I turned and swam like the clappers back to the beach. The lifeguard was doubled over laughing, and I was mortified. A whole crowd was looking at me, wondering what the drama was, and there I was, running from harmless manta rays. After that, I wasn’t exactly in a rush to get back in the water!
South Korea. I was filming a TV show, and I had the joy of visiting Jeju Island. The food culture is out of this world, and the people are some of the nicest I’ve ever met. I met the Haenyeo, incredible female divers in their 80s who deep-dive for sea urchins.
I also had a proper Korean barbecue experience, where each restaurant only serves one type of meat. I also did a traditional tea ceremony and visited a green tea farm, which was very meditative and interesting. I had a funny experience on my first day. The crew had gone to film, and I went to a local restaurant. I saw some workmen drinking a milky liquid from big bottles and thought, ‘That must be a local drink, I’ll try it.’ It turned out to be Soju, basically Korean sake. There I was, drinking strong Korean spirits at lunchtime, thinking it was some kind of juice! But that’s what I love about travel — you dive in, learn as you go, and the experience is all the better for it.
Palermo in Sicily is wild, vibrant, historic. You have the beautiful Teatro Massimo, where you can go to the opera. The food markets are incredible. There’s Mercato di Capo and La Vucciria, where you can buy everything from saffron to clothing to the most delicious street food. Most people now know about arancini — those stuffed rice balls — but if you want something truly local, you have to try Figgi d’India. It’s the fruit of the cactus plant, and it’s the sweetest thing you’ll ever taste. The history of Palermo is fascinating too. It was a forgotten city for so long, and it’s been revitalised in the last 20 years.
I love visiting London! You can learn so much from the city as an Irish food person and someone in business. It’s easy to get to, the food and culture are amazing, and I never tire of Borough Market. Every time I go, I have a strategy — I head straight for the chocolate-covered strawberries, then the German bakery, and I always get a porchetta sandwich from The Black Pig. And I have to finish at Humble Crumble. I love crumble! If you want something quirky in London, go to Sketch for afternoon tea — it’s unreal.
I have to settle on South Africa. My aunt, my father’s sister, was a Dominican nun who spent her life in South Africa, so we visited her. As a child, she visited us every seven years and always brought beautiful South African gifts. In between, we got postcards from all over. It captured my imagination. I was looking at all these beautiful places: Table Mountain, Port Elizabeth, and Kruger National Park — and I just knew I had to go.
It’s such a diverse country with breathtaking landscapes. You have Cape Town, the Garden Route, the Drakensberg Mountains, the wildlife and safaris, whale watching in Hermanus, and the vineyards of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. You can even go shark cage diving — though after my experience in the Maldives, that wasn’t on my list!
I always do a food tour or cooking class; it’s the best way to meet locals and get real recommendations.
One of my favourite food tours was in New York. The whole tour focused on the immigration story of the city, told through its food.
We went through Little Italy, Chinatown, and Jewish delis, learning what each community brought to the city.
I love visiting small, family-run restaurants and watching how they prepare dishes passed down through generations. It’s a great way to connect with a culture.
I want to go to the Antarctic! Though I’m not a sea baby at all. I’d probably buy out half the pharmacies in Ireland for seasickness tablets.
But I really want to see a completely different part of the world. The penguins, the landscapes, the wildlife — it’s all disappearing, and if ever there was a time to go, it’s now.
- Catherine Fulvio’s new series, St Patrick’s Way, airs on RTÉ1 on March 13 and 14 at 8pm
