← All events
food-drink · Saturday 5 September 2026 · 10:00am 
fEast Cork Food and Drink Festival - Midleton 2026
At Various venues in Midleton and East Cork · Midleton, Co. Cork
At Various venues in Midleton and East Cork · Midleton, Co. Cork
Every September, when the East Cork harvest is coming in and the season is turning, fEast Cork takes over Midleton and the surrounding countryside for five or six days of food, drink, and producer culture. This is not a generic food fair. It grew out of the old Midleton Food Festival, which ran for fifteen years before the organisers expanded the footprint in 2017 to pull in farms, fishing harbours, and country houses across the wider region. The result is a festival that draws over 30,000 visitors and feels genuinely rooted in the place it celebrates - the fields, kitchens, fishing boats, and distilleries of East Cork.
The programme mixes free street events with ticketed experiences, so there is room to dip in lightly or commit fully. On the free end, the Main Street Market brings more than 70 independent producers and food vendors into the centre of Midleton - this is the social heart of the festival and a good starting point. On the ticketed side, recent years have included long-table outdoor lunches at Ballyvolane House, where guests forage through the estate gardens before sitting down to a seasonal menu; farm-to-fork dinners at local farms with guided walks before the meal; tasting menus at Midleton restaurants; and cocktail and mixology workshops. A FEAST Talk Stage has featured chefs, farmers, and food writers in conversation, and Sunday mornings bring a Family Treasure Trail through town. The common thread across all of it is local producers - chefs, fishermen, foragers, and farmers who work in East Cork year-round and take the festival as a chance to show what they do.
Midleton is about 25 km east of Cork City on the N25. By car, the journey from Cork takes around 25 minutes; from Dublin allow two and a half hours via the M8 and M20. Bus Eireann runs regular services from Cork City’s Parnell Place to Midleton, with the journey taking roughly 35 minutes. The town is walkable once you arrive, and most festival venues are within easy reach of the town centre. Parking is available at the Midleton Distillery Experience car park and off-street around the town, though it fills quickly on market days - arriving on foot or by bus is the simpler option.
The Midleton Distillery Experience - home of Jameson and the Irish Distillers range - sits right in the town and is worth a visit in its own right. Ballymaloe House and its cookery school, a short drive into the countryside, are part of the reason East Cork has the food reputation it does. There is more to see in Midleton and across Co. Cork.
Heading to Various venues in Midleton and East Cork in Midleton? Cork has plenty more to see. Read the Midleton area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.