Queen’s honour for Toomevara descendant

A presenter of a renowned TV food programme in Australia whose ancestors hail from Toomevara - and who still has cousins living in the village - has been named in Queen Elizabeth's Birthday Honours List.

Maeve O' Meara, a highly successful journalist and broadcaster, is a member of the renowned O' Meara clan that has lived in Toomevara for centuries, her great grandfather James emigrating from the village to Australia in the 1880s.

Maeve presents the series Food Safari, a programme which explores the cuisines brought to Australia by its immigrants on the SBS Australian television network channel.

Joy and pride are among the emotions of her relations in Toomevara after “Ms Maeve Catherine O’Meara” was included on the Queen's prestigious Birthday Listing for her service to the food media industry.

“It’s joyous and unexpected, like having a beautiful present to be unwrapped,” Maeve stated after learning of the honour.

“Thank God the people of the world came to Australia and made us the incredible, unique, multicultural country that we have. I’ve just been lucky enough to be able to document that through TV and books and all sorts of things over quite a long time now.”

O’Meara, who hosted nine incarnations of Food Safari, is now busy with food tours around Sydney, interstate and overseas.

Contacted in Austrailia by this newspaper, Maeve said she was thrilled that Matt O' Meara, her third cousin in Toomevara, had contacted The Guardian so that the parish of her ancestors would learn of her Order of the Medal of Australia given in the recent Queens Birthday Awards.

“It's such an honour to be recognised for a contribution to the life of one’s country, and in my case my work in highlighting the wealth of nationalities with their cuisine and culture in Australia. It's such a thrill, especially for a staunch Republican like myself,” Maeve told The Guardian.

On learning from this newspaper that news of her honour had reached Toomevara, she said: “I have to say there's nothing like being recognised in Ireland for my work! Its bloody marvellous.”

TOOMEVARA COUSIN

Matt O' Meara, who lives in Coolderry, Toomevara, described his third cousin as “an amazing lady”.

Matt revealed that, while working as a journalist in the early 1990s, Maeve had the opportunity to come from Australia to the EU on an assignment, during which time she decided to visit the home of her ancestors and ended up getting a job in Dublin with RTÉ.

“She stayed with me here in Toomevara and was up and down to Dublin constantly and we had great fun together. She was so intrigued with Ireland and she loved Toomevara,” Matt recalled.

He great grandfather James O' Meara emigrated with another brother to Sydney, Australia, in the 1880s, leaving two siblings at home - Matthew and Thomas - to take over the family farm in the hills above the village in the townland of Rosgordagh - where O' Meara's still farm to this day.

The brothers who went to Sydney became reputed construction workers, and there is still a place in that city called Toomevara Street that they played a key role in building.

During her time working in Ireland Maeve met an Irishman, Ben Stack, an artist from Co Wicklow. They ultimately wed and had three children back in Australia before their marriage ended.

Maeve's journalism journeyed towards food writing and broadcasting and she has been described as a “much-loved” TV presenter whose whole life revolves around food”.

She is an award-winning food and cooking author, journalist, broadcaster and television producer who has spent over 25 years travelling the world discovering food. Food Safari which she presents is SBS’s longest running locally produced food show, which first aired in 2006.

Maeve said she would love if Food Safari could be seen in Ireland. “One of my big questions to our distributors in the years making the nine series of the programme was will it be seen in Ireland and will my family in Tipperary be able to see it?

“Having lived in Dublin for a year during a job and life swap in 1993, I loved being woven into my extended family and still deeply treasure that connection.”

AUTHOR

Maeve is the co-author of 12 books on food, including the best-selling ‘Food Safari – Glorious Adventures Across a World of Cuisines’ and ‘SBS Eating Guides To Sydney’ and she co-created, presented and produced all five series of the acclaimed programme ‘The Food Lovers’ Guide to Australia’. She is a winner of the coveted Gold Ladle in the World Food Media Awards for Best Food Television Programme. Maeve was the Food Presenter on ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ for five years and won major international awards for her television work.

She has worked as the Food Editor on major Australian magazines including ‘Family Circle’ and ‘New Woman’. She also spent many years writing for the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’s’ Good Living section and other food publications.

In 1999 she created a successful food adventure company, Gourmet Food Safaris, which runs a range of culinary tours in Sydney, Australia and the most exotic parts of the world.

In 2007, the company was voted Best Tour Operator by the prestigious Australian Newspaper’s Travel and Indulgence awards.

The particular line of the O' Meara clan which Maeve is a member of originally hails from Ballymackey. While in Toomevara Matt brought her to the graveyard in Ballymackey to visit the grave of her ancestors.

Matt said he knew some of Maeve's Australian uncles who used to visit the parish of their forebears in the 1960s and 1970s - among them a Frank O' Meara, a former Franciscian monk who now lives in France.