There is a moment in the 2007 children's movie
Ratatouille, where the becloaked, draculesque food critic has his heart of stone broken.
All movie long, Anton Ego destroyed the culinary world of Paris with his scathing reviews. He was the poster boy for fear, his picture plastered onto the walls of every restaurant's kitchen in the French capital as a warning to staff.
All the while, he was juxtaposed against a more affable chef, Auguste Gusteau, who loved basic food and encouraged everyone to cook.
And yet, all was changed, changed utterly one day. Anton Ego, having managed to downgrade the public image and star rating of Gusteau's restaurant, had an eating experience there that changed his life.
He tasted simple, honest, pure food that reminded him of his childhood � in this case the peasant dish Ratatouille.
The sun shone and his pupils dilated as he tripped back in time to a memory of a moment: Anton Ego in short pants, eating Ratatouille in his mother's countryside kitchen. His attitude to life improved remarkably from that point on.
That taste of childhood does something intangible to people. Sometimes food actually was better in the past � often grown in the backgarden, or from the mixed farm holding. Local, seasonal and fairly organic, as a discerning modern foodie would desire.
Sometimes of course it wasn't better at all. Remember smash, packet soup, processed cheese and spam?
However the human mind seems to have the ability to hone in on the best of the flavours of the past when it re-encounters them
A re-encountering moment also happened at the judging of the National Organic Awards 2009.
A very simple, honest, pure food that reminded people of their childhood won the top overall prize. This product, Moonshine organic dairy's non homogenised 2 litre milk, just stood out.
I was on the judging panel myself, and it was clear from early on that this milk was going to do well.
Hand on heart, I wasn't necessarily looking forward to drinking a milk that came from a plastic bottle: I find the plastic flavour often overrides all the others.
Well, with this milk, the overriding flavour was of childhood and of creaminess. I noticed that some of the other judges went back for more, and that even people who did not necessarily like or drink milk anymore tried it and loved it too.
There were shortlists, then there was a shortened shortlist. But in the end, the flavour of the milk really brought it to the fore.
Foodies and traditionalists alike now finally have their non homogenised milk What's more
Moonshine's organic milk is quite affordable: 1.50 for 1 litre, and 2.39 for the 2 litre container.
And considering the research and development, marketing and branding budgets available to some of the the bigger names in the organic industry, the Moonshine dairy farm achievements are all the more remarkable.
Their story of Mary and Gerry Kelly's Moonshine organic dairy is a positive one for the farming community.
Through two diversifications, the 80 acre Westmeath farm has moved from struggle to success.
They converted to organic in 2000: �We�ve two young lads here, and both of them love to farm. But I couldn�t see a way for them to make a living off it, without doing something. So I thought about it long and hard, but when I did go organic, everything fell into place� according to Gerry Kelly.
He goes on: �The British Friesians were a great help to go organic, because they needed lower inputs. Then, as time went on, I changed to Ayrshire. They�ve a lower yield, but the quality and flavour of the milk is much better�.
The couple started making their own fresh cheese and yogurt drinks. More recently, they have started making an Emmental cheese and supplying this fabulous milk.
Now, the whole family is employed in farming, making and distributing their products. They supply local shops, have a stall at the Mullingar farmers' markets and Dublin Food Co-op, and have a farm shop.
And, as you can imagine, I highly recommend tasting their milk.
