From chocolates, sweets and edible flowers to fish, cheeses and oils, the Great Taste deli, which returns to Speciality & Fine Food Fair for a third year, is set to be a melting pot of Great Taste award-winning products.
This year the deli will be situated on the balcony at Olympia in London, amongst many independent food and drink producers, and will be the go-to place for buyers to discover truly artisan, innovative and unique products from Sunday 6 to Tuesday 8 September.
The most important show in the calendar for buyers of speciality foods and the producers who make them, Speciality & Fine Food Fair is a hive of activity over three days with the world’s finest food and drink on offer. One of the most respected logos at the show is round, black and gold with stars emblazoned on it – the Great Taste logo!
“Each year the Great Taste deli returns to Speciality & Fine Food Fair with more award-winning food and drink products, offering buyers a great opportunity for sampling and meeting producers. WBC has continued to support us, allowing us to showcase its latest range of BRIX modular display systems, and for that we are very grateful,” explained John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of Great Taste.
New for 2015, buyers, producers, chefs and everyone else working in the speciality food trade are welcome to drop by the deli to watch live cooking demonstrations using Great Taste award-winning ingredients with chef, Nick Crossley and taste some of the 1-, 2- and 3-star Great Taste winners. On Tuesday 8 September, plans are afoot to display the Great Taste Supreme Champion product on the deli, offering visitors to the show an opportunity to taste the very top product of Great Taste 2015.
What is Great Taste?
Great Taste, now in its 21st year, is quite simply all about taste. It is not about packaging, branding or smart design. Judges are simply presented with food or drink to taste and they provide valuable feedback to thousands of producers each year. For a producer to win a Great Taste 1-star award is a great achievement, to win 2-stars means that many judges have been bowled over by the product, and to win a 3-star Great Taste award is comparable to a chef winning a Michelin star. It is seen in the world of fine food as a hallmark of taste, quality and excellence.
Great Taste, founded in 1994 and organised by The Guild of Fine Food, has judged over 100,000 products in the last 21 years; each one has been blind-tasted by a team of judges who are dedicated to finding the most exquisite tasting food and drink.
This year’s judges included Masterchef judge and restaurant critic Charles Campion, TV presenter and cook, Aggie MacKenzie, Great British Bake Off winner 2013, Frances Quinn, Masterchef the Professionals finalist, Adam Handling, food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, and chefs including James Golding, Chef Director of The Pig hotel group.
Great Taste 2015 facts
10,000 different products entered (Great Taste entry is capped at 10,000)
Over 400 professional judges
49 days of judging in Dorset as well as St David’s Hotel, Cardiff
3,109 products awarded 1-, 2- or 3-star awards
130 products presented with the top 3-Star Great Taste award in 2015
List of Top 50 Foods announced 5 August 2015
EIGHT Golden Fork Awards for best regional food and drink
ONE Supreme Champion
What do Great Taste judges look for?
They look for great texture and appearance. They judge the quality of ingredients and how well the maker has put the food or drink together. But above all, they look for truly great taste. Working in small teams, experts taste up to 30 foods in each sitting, discussing each product as a coordinating food writer transcribes their comments directly onto the Great Taste website which producers access after judging is completed.
Over the years, numerous food businesses, start-ups and well established producers have been advised how to modify their foods and have subsequently gone on to achieve star status. Any food that a judging team believes is worthy of a star is judged by at least two further teams. Only when there is a consensus will a star be awarded. For 3-stars, every single judge attending the session, which can be as many as 40 experts, must unanimously agree the food delivers that indescribable ‘wow’ factor.
