There’s never any lack of drama in the kitchen of a Michelin star restaurant – but one of Galway’s most accomplished chefs has now turned his hand to drama of the more traditional kind…by publishing his first book of plays.

JP McMahon says that, for a long time, he has lived a parallel life as a playwright – but it wasn’t until Covid that he really devoted his full energies to making this become a reality.

Between 2017 and 2021, the man behind the Michelin-starred Aniar Restaurant and the Aniar Boutique Cookery School, also completed a PhD in Drama at University of Galway.

His PhD focused on playwrighting and how food makes meaning in the theatre, restaurant and the gallery.

Last week he launched the first collection of work. Titled PLAYS, 2012-2024, the collection is published by Godot Press and includes an introduction by Galway-based playwright Christian O’Reilly.

Three plays in the collection – ‘Irish Food. A Play’, ‘Dante.Beckett.Lobster’. and ‘Killing Lobsters’ – were all written as part of his PhD.

The others were written over a lengthy period of time from 2012-2024, including ‘The Last Room’, which was recently among the winners in the 2024 PJ O’Connor Radio Drama Awards.

That play focuses on two men who meet after travelling through a series of interconnecting rooms, unsure of where they are and what they are supposed to do next.

In a dynamic back and forth, new pieces of information are gradually revealed as the tension between them increases.

“I was delighted to come third place in the PJ O’Connor Radio Awards. Radio has always appealed to me as a medium, even as a chef, to communicate, and it has been a significant boost as I launch my first collection of plays. The plays in this collection highlight another side of me,” said JP.

“For a long time, I have lived a parallel life as a playwright. While working as a chef from my late teenage years, I started to write plays in 1998 after reading Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. It is a wonderful realisation to finally see them in print.

“If I hadn’t joined Christian O’Reilly’s playwrighting group during Covid I may never have tried to assemble a collection. The group gave me the confidence to put my plays into the public realm.

“As much as I enjoy being a chef, I have always wanted to be a playwright, and I hope that in the future, I can pursue the latter as much as the former,” he said

Christian O’Reilly – himself an acclaimed Galway-based playwright – joined Dr Charlotte McIvor and JP to launch his first collection of plays in the O’Donoughe Centre at the University of Galway last week.

And while it’s his first book plays, JP has of course produced a wide selection of cookbooks over the years, including his most recent publication, An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us.

His Aniar restaurant has been awarded a Michelin star every year since 2013 – and the man himself is one of Ireland’s foremost food leaders and a prominent advocate for local food, food sustainability, food education and food ethics.

He is the founder and symposium director of Food on The Edge, the internationally renowned food convention that sees visionary, change-promoting chefs and food leaders coming together to listen, talk, and debate about the future of food in the industry and on the planet.

And for good measure, he is also the director and founder of the Blas na Gaillimhe Food Festival, which takes place in Galway in May and November.

Pictured: JP McMahon at the official launch of his new book, PLAYS ‘2012-2024’ at the O’Donoghue Theatre at University of Galway. Photo: Andrew Downes, xposure.