Judging at the Great Taste Awards
Having recently spent a couple of days judging the Great
Taste Awards, I have to say the fact that we have been recipients of over 47 of
them now holds a far greater gravitas than I had ever given them credit for in
the past, firstly as we are
proud of each and every product we make, we believe in them and want everyone
to agree with us that they are all worthy of being award Winners, but secondly
having seen the process by which the judgement's are made I now know just how hard
it is to impress enough and be considered a one star winner let alone a two or
three star!
The Great Taste Awards are considered to be the pinnacle
in the Artisan Food world and to get any award is difficult when over 20 people
have to agree and then another group will adjudicate on your decision and
either agree or disagree before a final decision is made which ultimately can
make that product sing to the customers on the shop shelves or will see it lost
to the good idea not well executed pile.
Tasting your way through over 80 different foods,
from quiche, to sausage, sauces to ice creams, pies sweet and savoury, snacks to cakes and juices to ciders it's hard to take it all in, but due
consideration is given, serious thought and hopefully helpful criticism will
help the producer (ourselves included) to listen, learn, evaluate, change and
then enter again next year - the cheer and applause that went up in the room
when a 3 star gold was found was clearly a high point for all the judges that
day, we all loved to taste and be a part of finding something truly amazing,
Being a judge is hard work, no matter what people say,
tasting food and drinks all day long is not fun, it's not about eating! It's
about tasting, understanding flavours and seeing that they work in harmony to
create a dish that others will buy and enjoy and not just a blend of wacky
flavours, ultimately the shops and
delicatessens around the world will look to the awards to decide if it is
something that they can stock and sell .
Before judging,I had no idea the complexity involved in
running the awards, we have entered a few products this year and more than ever before I am now fascinated to know how we have done, and for the record, we did not
judge any of our own products.
I am pleased the process is as robust as I think
it can be. Great care and attention is given in the way the process has been
honed over the years, I still miss the clear Bronze, Silver &Gold awards
but I can see now through the judging process that the star system does
actually work better for a true and honest evaluation of the awards scheme.
So the outcome of the announcement of the 2013 awards now
will be keenly awaited knowing the process and appreciation of what has to
be achieved in order to win even a one star gold !
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