The third annual Good Food Awards ceremony took place January 18 in San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building. After extensive sorting, tasting and judging of 1,300 edible entries submitted from across the nation, winners gathered as one to laud each other’s work and sample the delicious results.
Nine categories of products are included: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections (new addition!), pickles, preserves and spirits. Judges look not only for flavor, as is common with industry contests, but also for elements of ethics, purity and fairness. The Good Food Awards aim to elevate a food system that is built on quality and authenticity, and strive to highlight the producers who are dedicating their lives to it with the official Good Food seal.
It is not surprising that California has had a high concentration of representation three years in a row, but this year, Santa Cruz saw three local companies as finalists: Heidi Schlecht of Feel Good Foods Catering for her Plumline label Damson Plum Jam; Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim fame for her Flavor King Pluot Jam; and Verve Coffee Roasters with two entries—Elida Estate Green-Tip Gesha from Panama and Ethiopian Birhanu. Verve and Chez Pim emerged as winners in their respective categories.
Following a keynote speech by Alice Waters, the winners were bedecked with medals as they gathered onstage. In each of the nine categories, one winner spoke on behalf of the rest, representing their shared craft and commitment to quality.
Our very own Colby Bar, co-owner of Verve, spoke quite eloquently about some of the issues surrounding how we value food in this country. He pointed out that there tends to be “seekers of truth and seekers of wealth” and his suspicion that most people gathered in the crowd that night were seekers of the former. To that end, he declared that “good food can be good business” and that one does not have to be exclusive of the other. Proof of that is Verve itself, a business that has blown up since its launch in 2008. Their name is now known near and far, and their two coffees that won this year were chosen from over 1300 products entered. In fact, the Elida Estate Green-Tip Gesha received special mention as the highest scoring coffee overall.
Sarah Weiner, founder of the Good Food Awards, ended the ceremony with some inspirational closing remarks before inviting the crowd to descend upon the awaiting feast of nibbles in the hall below. “All of you make it irresistible to do something just and right every time we get hungry,” she told the roomful of food crafters, going on to entreat, “perhaps next January we need to take this gathering to the Capitol.”
About the author
Amber Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
