On Thursday 4 December 2014, London Food Board Chair Rosie Boycott presented the first ever Urban Food Awards at a gala ceremony at Whole Foods Market in Kensington:
- Best Eatery: Stepney City Farm Café (Runners up: The Castle Café and Crisis Skylight Café)
- Best Educator: Made in Hackney (Runners up: Crisis Skylight Café and The Culinary Anthropologist)
- Best Producer: OrganicLea Community Growers (Runners up: Wild Card Brewery and Wildes Cheese)
- Best retailer: Brockley & Wapping Markets (Runners up: EAT17 and OrganicLea Community Growers)
- The People's Choice Award: Crisis Skylight Café
Other awards presented on the night:
- Capital Growth Enterprise Award: Growing Kultur
- Capital Growth Enterprising School Garden: Nightingale Primary School, Hackney
- Good Food For London Best Borough: London Borough of Islington
- London Markets Initiative Krys Zasada Memorial Award: Kingston Ancient Market
The winners were celebrated in a feature in The Guardian and the February-April issue of The Jellie Eel magazine.
About the Urban Food Awards
We at London Food Link and the rest of the folks behind the Urban Food Routes initiative are inviting our fellow citizens of this fair capital to help crown London's best good food small enterprises!
Back in July, we invited all small London food enterprises to enter themselves in one of the following four categories:
Best Urban Food…
- Producer (sponsored by Seeds of Change)
- Retailer
- Eatery
- Educator
Celebrating good food
The Urban Food Awards are here to celebrate small, good food enterprises. As such, the judges (see below) will be particularly interested in those that do great stuff in their local communities and work hard for the benefit of people and planet more generally.
As well as turning out tasty tucker and having a sound business model, enterprises were encouraged to highlight on their 'why vote for us' forms any ways in which they:
- produce or use more sustainable food
- offer social benefits
- contribute to the local economy
- enhance the health of people and our environment
How to vote
VOTING ENDED AT 5PM ON FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER 2014.
We’ll also put voters' names in the hat to win a pair of tickets to the gala awards bash at Whole Foods Market in Kengsington on 4 December.
What next?
The three enterprises that get the most votes in each category will go forward to a panel of expert judges drawn from the Urban Food Routes partners: the Mayor Of London's food team, Plunkett Foundation, Seeds of Change and London Food Link.
Winners will be chosen based on the judging criteria above and the 'why vote for us' submitted by the entrants.
Finalists will be contacted in early November and winners will be announced on 4 December at an invitation-only shindig at Whole Foods Market in Kensington and celebrated in a feature in The Guardian and the February-April issue of The ‘Eel magazine.
Prizes
In addition to the glory of being crowned London’s best, winning enterprises will be featured in both The Guardian and this ‘umble magazine, and walk away with a hamper of Seeds of Change organic goodies.
Everyone voting for a winning enterprise will be entered into a draw to win a Seeds of Change organic hamper and a year’s subscription to The Jellied Eel.
Rules
- To be eligible, an enterprise must have 50 employees or fewer and be both London-based and operating in at least one London borough.
- Enterprises can enter more than one category (eg a retail bakery café that offers baking classes could enter all four categories)
- Londoners can cast one vote per category. Duplicate votes will be deleted.
- The judges’ decisions are final.
- There are no alternative prizes
Other awards
Urban Food Awards being decided by expert judging panels alone will be:
Capital Growth Enterprise
Capital Growth Enterprising School Garden
Good Food For London: Best Borough
Krys Zasada Memorial Award
About Urban Food Routes
Urban Food Routes is a unique initiative funded by the Mayor of London and Seeds of Change. It is providing funding and expert advice to a variety of small food enterprises in London to help them thrive and benefit people in their local communities. The support is coordinated by Plunkett Foundation, with help from Growing Communities and London Food Link.
London Food Link: London Food Link brings together community food enterprises and projects that are working to make good food accessible to everyone in London to help create a healthy, sustainable and ethical food system for all.
