Olympic flavours from Northern Irish baker

Award winning L'Artisan Foods is bringing the street food flavours of Brazil to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in time for the Olympic Games in Rio.

Based at Portadown in Northern Ireland, L'Artisan Foods is owned by Brazilian businessman Jose Andre and has just launched a Coxinha snack for foodservice and retail customers on the island of Ireland.

Coxinha is a Brazilian chicken fritter that's produced by street food venders in Rio de Janeiro and other cities across Brazil.

L'Artisan Foods has also won a string of Great Taste Awards from the influential UK Guild of Fine Food for his quiches and natas, richly flavoured Portuguese egg custard tarts. The natas and his salmon quiche featured in the recently announced Great Taste Awards.

Coxinhas already on sale in leading delis in Northern Ireland and could soon feature in stores in Dublin.

"I've made coxinhas over many years in Brazil and decided that the Rio Olympics offered an opportunity to bring some of the traditional flavours from my homeland to foodies in Ireland," he says. "They've been very well received. And I am sure that interest will grow as the Olympics gets underway.

"The coxinha is based on dough made with wheat flour and chicken broth and optionally mashed potato, which is filled with shredded spiced chicken meat, or a whole chicken thigh," he adds.

Born in Portugal's historic Évora region, an important farming and food centre, Mr Andre spent most of his life in Brazil, where he owned restaurants and a deli in Porto Alegre in the south of the country. He originally came to Northern Ireland to work in the local food processing industry and subsequently decided to start his own business.

He started L'Artisan Foods in 2013 to develop pies and patisserie for foodservice and delis throughout Ireland.

The coxinhas and other products are all handmade by Jose and his team of four in Northern Ireland. "Our focus is on using locally sourced ingredients with provenance," he says.