Following the launch of the first ever The Scotsman Food and Drink Awards, which will aim to highlight the cream of the crop of Scotland’s Food and Drink industry, we are asking for your nominations across 13 specially chosen categories to ensure that those chefs, restaurateurs, companies and inidividuals who have impressed you over the past year get the recognition they deserve.
These new awards are a fantastic opportunity for any company or person to be chosen - or nominate themselves - to be in with a chance of one of our prestigious new awards.
One of the most important trends of recent years has been the increasing interaction of restaurants - both the smaller independents and the bigger chains - and producers with Scotland’s natural larder, leading to an increased emphasis on sourcing the freshest local ingredients and reducing the food miles used to create some of our favourite dishes.
In recognition of this, we have created the Best Use of Scottish Produce category to highlight the work of those men and women who are keen ambassadors for not only Scottish produce, but also the producers and people who make Scotland’s food and drink scene what it is.
Sponsored by Scottish Salmon, you can put forward the person or company who you believe have been helping to sell our country’s wonderful produce not just here in Scotland but also to the rest of the UK, and other countries around the world.
Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation, said: “Scottish produce has a fantastic reputation and as people increasingly demand high quality food, Scotland is well placed to satisfy their appetite. As Scotland and the UK’s number one food export, the salmon industry really understands the importance of quality and provenance.
“We are fortunate to have held the French Government’s prestigious Label Rouge quality standard for the past 25 years – no mean feat as the French know their food.”
Another important aspect of these awards will be the chance to shine a light on the continued rise of innovation in the industry.
To celebrate this, we are looking for the chef who has inspired you with unique or distinictive dishes, be they traditional recipes prepared using ingredients you wouldn’t have expected or a completely new idea that you haven’t come across before.
Each nominee, and your reason for choosing them, will be read and judged by a panel comprising of The Scotsman staff and representatives from Scotland’s Food & Drink industry, following the nomination deadline on Friday 29 September, with the finalists being announced a few weeks later.
Rebecca Thompson, events manager at The Scotsman, said: “Our awards seem to have been on everyone’s lips since we launched last week. We’ve already had a fantastic response so far, but we still need more nominations.”
The awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 1 November, at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange and in a departure from the usual sit-down meal, the Awards will have a Scottish Street food theme, giving finalists, guests and sponsors the opportunity to better connect on the night.
Considered to be one of the capital’s most versatile venues, the Corn Exchange is ideally located, and has held multiple food and drink festivals, celebrations and ceremonies over the past decade, and as such is the perfect location, we feel, to host our awards.
A spokesperson for the Corn Exchange, who will also be sponsoring the Most Innovative Chef award, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be hosting the 2017 Food & Drink Awards here at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange.
