Nominate the best of British! Ten years of BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards.
The prestigious BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards returns to celebrate the best of British food in what Jamie Oliver describes as the “Oscars of the food world”. Launched to recognise the many individuals working to promote delicious, nutritious food, one of the most inspiring categories is the Best Dinner Lady or Man award. And that’s where we need your help.
The Best Dinner Lady or Man award embraces cooks working in schools, hospitals, colleges, prisons, workplaces – anywhere that provides food on a large scale to the public. Many of our previous short-listed nominees, and some winners, have come from hospitals, including Steve Morgan from the Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, which used their “Swannery” and “Bistro” restaurants to bring in additional revenue to subsidise the ward service. Ron McKenzie from Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS was another joint winner. Sustainability was a key factor in their sourcing, so raw meat and bakery was sourced locally, with organic milk direct from a local dairy.
Food Programme presenter Sheila Dillon says: “We hope in this 10th anniversary year to find another dinner lady like Jeannette Orrey who with Jamie Oliver sparked a revolution”. We want to hear about all the other revolutionaries out there, people who achieve the impossible on a daily basis with very little money, preparing exceptional food from excellent ingredients, supporting their local businesses and communities, and giving patients the best possible food to get them healthy again.
Nominations for the Food and Farming Awards 2009 are now open so please do tell us about any of the cooks who are really embracing high standards, making a difference to children’s lives. For full details on category criteria, and how to nominate visit: www.bbc.co.uk/foodawards. And remember the more you tell us about why your nominee matches the criteria the more chance you’ll have of catching the judges eye. Closing date for entries – August 31st 2009.
This year’s winners will be featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme and Farming Today , as well as on BBC Local Radio. The awards ceremony will be broadcast in a special awards edition of The Food Programme in November.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Rebecca Moore
Producer, Food Programme, BBC Radio 4
