The Good Food Awards – the first national awards to recognize American craft food producers who excel in taste and sustainability – kicks off the third year of its quest to find the best food producers.
Monday marked the official launch of a coast-to-coast call for entries of beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles, preserves, spirits and confections, a new category added this year. Entries will be accepted through Aug. 31. A blind tasting with Alice Waters, Nell Newman and more than 130 other food movement leaders will determine this year’s 100 winners, who will be showcased in San Francisco at a special one-day Good Food Awards Marketplace within the iconic CUESA Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
From year one to year two, the number of entrants grew 35 percent to 926 entries and is anticipated to reach more than 1,000 from all 50 states this year. Last year, dozens of Whole Foods Markets featured displays to promote the winners, Williams-Sonoma picked up more than half a dozen winners in 20 of its stores, and the Ohio House of Representatives honored its hometown winners with a resolution and ceremony.
It is estimated that last year’s winners cumulatively invested an increased $800,000 in local farms to fulfill the new demand for their award-winning foods.
“The Awards are a way to publicly recognize the people who are not satisfied with the status quo, but continue to push their industries toward greater craftsmanship and sustainability,” said Sarah Weiner, director of the Good Food Awards. “They are food crafters from small towns and big cities who are maintaining an important piece of our cultural heritage – the food we eat – while enhancing our agricultural landscape and building strong communities.”
Good Food Award winners will be announced Jan. 18, 2013, at a ceremony at San Francisco’s Ferry Building, which brings winners and their families together with the nation’s leading chefs, buyers, food movement leaders and media. On Jan. 19, 2013, Good Food Award-winning products will be showcased to the public.
Winners also receive a Good Food Awards seal to place on their product and connections to a network of national buyers who seek out foods that meet the holistic Good Food Awards criteria. Find specific entry criteria and more information at: www.goodfoodawards.org.
A New Association
Also new this year, the Good Food Awards will launch an association – the Good Food Merchants Guild – to connect, convene and promote the growing number of artisan food producers.
“Craft food businesses of every type face similar challenges in being environmentally and socially responsible while remaining economically viable, and the guild will focus on helping them thrive and become a vibrant economic force in America,” organizers said.
The new guild launches with the support of a Founders Circle of businesses dedicated to creating a better food system, including Bon Appétit Management Company, Good Eggs, Whole Foods Market and Bi-Rite Market.
