Finalists announced for BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards 2009

This year’s finalists in the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards have been announced. The awards include categories for best take-away, dinner lady/man, local food retailer and local food producer. 

This is the 10th anniversary of the awards, which celebrate the people and organisations behind the best of British food.

This year, chef, restaurateur and winner of this year’s Lifetime achievement Catey, Raymond Blanc, chairs the panel of judges which include farmer, cheese maker and Blur bassist, Alex James, school dinners champion Jeanette Orrey and chef and food writer Mark Hix.

The event also features the BBC Food Personality of the Year, awarded in previous years to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, James Martin and Rick Stein. Blanc said: “The finalists on this list are food producers, cooks, farmers and retailers who are all, in their own way, truly inspirational people.

“In every category you will find people who are not only passionate about food and farming but are also helping people in Britain to re-connect with their food. These awards are important because they offer a rare chance to recognise the hard work and dedication involved in producing incredible food to be recognised.”

The awards will take place on Wednesday 25 November at BBC Broadcasting House.

The finalists are:

Best food market
•       Eye Country Market, Eye, near Diss, Suffolk
•       Riverside & Roathside weekly markets, Cardiff
•       The Goods Shed, Daily Market, Canterbury, Kent

Best local food retailer
•       A Ryan Butchers, Much Wenlock, Staffs
•       M&M Richardson, Fishmongers, Dungeness, Kent
•       Donaldsons Shop, Stanhope, Co Durham

Best dinner lady or man
•       Sarah Allen, The Vine Primary School, Cambourne, Cambs.
•       John Rankin, Penair Secondary School, Truro, Cornwall
•       Peter Anderson, Donaldson’s School for the Deaf, Edinburgh

Best food producer
•       The Somerset Cider Brandy Company, Martock, Somerset
•       Trealy Farm Charcuterie, Mitchel Troy, Monmouth
•       The Exmouth Mussel Company, Exmouth, Devon

Best retail initiative
•       Growfair: Pride of Cornwall 
•       The Co-operative Food
•       The Rare Tea Company

Best takeaway
•       The Thali Café, Bristol
•       Chang Noi, Chester
•       Traditional Fish Smokery, Brighton
•       Patricks’ Kitchen, The Goods Shed, Canterbury

Farmer of the year
•       Andrew Dennis, Woodlands Organic Farm, Lincolnshire
•       George Steriopulos, Isle of Mann
•       Rosemary Brown and Geoff Brown, Bluebell Woods Dairy, Derby

Derek Cooper award
•       The Food Ethics Council
•       The Food For Life Partnership
•       Ian Piggott – Open Farm Sunday

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By Rosie Birkett

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