The event was inspired by a group of Lancashire dairies that have decided their creamy, crumbly cheese is the best in the world for melting on toast.

While their distinctive crumbly cheese does melt wonderfully under the grill, it's the ubiquitous cheddar that gets the public's number-one vote for cheese toasties.

British cheesemaker Cathedral City Cheddar, whose cheese is stocked by Tesco in Ireland, has just released research revealing that almost one in four men surveyed chose cheese on toast as their favourite afternoon snack. Pretty impressive considering it was up against chocolate (21%), crisps (11%) and doughnuts (7%). The women surveyed named chocolate (26%) as their number one snack, with cheese toasties trailing only marginally.

I found this research surprising, not because I don't appreciate the appeal of cheese on toast but because, for me, cheese on toast is an evening snack, something that probably harks back to student days when culinary skills were thin on the ground and a fully stocked fridge even thinner.

Back in college I didn't eat meat and cheese formed an important part of my diet. Living close to Cork's English Market I had ready access to a great selection of artisan and French cheeses, and our fridge usually held the makings of an interesting cheeseboard.

Of course, students don't really do cheeseboards so our cheesy booty usually wound up atop some standard issue sliced pan melting under the grill. We'd usually bulk it up with whatever was languishing in the back of the cupboard . . . onion, tomato, a slather of Ballymaloe relish or peppery English mustard.

While I'm happy to profess my kitchen skills have improved since college, my taste in cheese toasties has altered little. First I pop the slices in the toaster to get them crisp on both sides. Then I smother with mustard and scatter with tomato and onion before crumbling on some Double Gloucester or Wensleydale and popping under the grill.