BACKGROUND TO THE FOOD AND FARMING AWARDS
FROM THE BBC:
Each year, the BBC Food & Farming Awards celebrate the people and organisations behind the best of British food. The finalists start off as a nomination sent in by a member of the public and then a team of judges, including some of the UK’s best-known chefs and food writers, select finalists in each of the 10 categories, which include Best Food Market, Best Drinks Producer, Best Food Producer, and Best Street Food/Takeaway.
This year, BBC local radio stations in England, and national stations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have galvanised their listeners in support of the Best Food Market category; Doncaster, Levenshulme and Crystal Palace markets have all made it through as finalists.
A number of special broadcasts are planned around the BBC Food & Farming Awards. A special edition of Radio 4’s The Food Programme called Meet The Finalists is available on BBC iPlayers which introduces listeners to highlights of the shortlist. This year’s finalists will also feature in a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, broadcast on Monday 4 May 2015.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony held in Bristol on Thursday 30 April 2015.
Finalists in the Best Food Market section are:
Doncaster Market
Doncaster market is the biggest traditional market in the North, with some 400 shops, stalls and stands providing employment for over 1000 people. The market is comprised of four large indoor markets, each with their own distinctive character. While The Fish Market provides market-goers with everything from lobster to swordfish, The International Food Hall offers a Greek delicatessen, an Italian bakery and a hot roast deli to name but a few dining options.
Crystal Palace Food Market
Crystal Palace Food Market is a community, not-for-profit Transition Town project bringing quality, locally sourced, low-carbon food into the heart of Crystal Palace with an aim support small, local producers. They also work to promote local growing by running five community growing gardens and to create local employment for stallholders, market crew and growers. The project began in 2012, when founders Karen Jones and Laura Marchant-Short held a series of open public meetings to determine what the community wanted. They then visited successful models of community markets, including Lewes Farmers’ Market and The Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market, before setting about creating Crystal Palace Food Market.
Levenshulme Market
Levenshulme Market is a community run social enterprise market that runs between March and December in Levenshulme, South Manchester. Priding themselves on their diverse range of high quality traders, with a changing roster of 50 artisan traders, they offer a variety of fresh produce and street food. As a social enterprise, they aim to address the underlying socio-economic issues affecting the local high street (an estimated 25% of shops in Levenshulme are currently unoccupied) by encouraging the community to take ownership of their retail environment and build skills and capacity to create earning potential. This is achieved by providing mentoring and training for residents interested in starting market businesses.
bbc.co.uk/foodawards contains information on all the categories and a list of previous winners.
