Record number of entries from Wales in this year’s Great Taste awards
The prestigious Great Taste Awards judging process will be held in north Wales this year at Llandrillo College, Nr Colwyn Bay from the 24-26 May 2017.
A host of chefs, buyers, restaurateurs, journalists and food writers – including the BBC’s Nigel Barden, Channel 4’s Felicity Spector and food critic Charles Campion will be blind tasting the vast array of Welsh products eager to secure the Great Taste seal. Also among the judges will be Welsh representatives including Mary Ann Gilchrist, Chef Consultant at Carlton Riverside in Llanwrtyd Wells, Deiniol ap Dafydd, Director of Blas ar Fwyd, Rufus Carter of Patchwork Pâté and David and Alison Lea-Wilson of Halen Môn.
With a record number of entrants from Wales this year the judges will have the very best produce on offer with 513 individual entries from 173 different Welsh companies.
Cabinet Secretary for Environment & Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM will be attending the judging on 25 May
“Wales is very excited to be hosting the judging of the Welsh food and drink entries for the 2017 Great Taste awards. And it is a great honour to attend the judging of Wales’s finest food and drink produce.
“We all know that Welsh food and drink is of the highest quality and this prestigious event will not only demonstrate that quality, but will also highlight the diversity and innovation of our food and drink producers. I would like to wish all Welsh entries the very best of luck.”
John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food added,
“We have a record number of Welsh entries in this year’s Great Taste awards and this is fantastic to see. It reflects the ever increasing commitment by food and drink producers in Wales to provide top notch food and drink. The Great Taste accreditation offers an invaluable platform to producers as they look to expand their businesses.”
While Coleg Llandrillo (Rhos on Sea) campus will be hosting the Great Taste Wales event college students will also be given the chance to learn more about the industry and meet with the judges at an especially organised event to be held at the newly opened Dylan’s Restaurant in Llandudno.
The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, is the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink awards. Each product is blind tasted by expert judges who discuss the merits of each product in their search for those that deserve to be championed and garnered with the Great Taste logo.
Alison Lea-Wilson, co-founder of Halen Môn and one of this year’s judges added,
“It is going to be very exciting blind-tasting all the different and exciting food and drink products. As judges what we get is a description, the key ingredients and how it is made, and then it is all down to the taste. For Halen Môn, securing the Great Taste seal of approval has been very beneficial for our business so it is wonderful that this event is coming to north Wales this year.”
The Wales Roadshow is part of a wider drive by the Welsh Government to grow the country’s food and drink sector by 30% by 2020.