07 Sep 2016
Celebrating the very best in food and drink, Great Taste, the world's most coveted blind-tasted food awards, has reached its grand finale for 2016. The Great Taste Producer of the Year Award was presented to La Tua Pasta of London on Monday 5 September at the Great Taste Golden Forks Dinner, held at The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, as over 300 guests from the world of fine food gathered to hear the results of many months of rigorous judging.
Scooping Great Taste accolades for a remarkable 31 products since 2013, La Tua Pasta, which makes fresh tagliatelle, tortellini and ravioli pasta for some of the most prestigious hotels, restaurants and wholesalers around the world, has consistently achieved exceptional standards over the past four years.
John Farrand, Managing Director of the Guild of Fine Food, explains; “Demonstrating fabulous consistency year on year, it was about time La Tua Pasta was recognised for its outstanding range of fresh pasta, which even top chefs are very proud to serve in their restaurants. This year many products from London were judged on home soil, and our experts were seriously impressed with the freshness, flavour and texture of this range of pasta, which led to 12 of the 16 products entered receiving Great Taste awards in 2016.”
The Great Taste Producer of the Year Award was sponsored by Partridges of London.
Contact: Jessica Scudetti, +44 (0) 208 961 8024, www.latuapasta.com.
Picture credit: (L-R) John Farrand, Guild of Fine Food, Ian Willard of Partridges and Caroline and Francesco Boggian of La Tua Pasta
What is Great Taste?
Great Taste, founded in 1994 and organised by The Guild of Fine Food, has judged over 110,000 products in the last 22 years; each one has been blind-tasted by a team of judges who are dedicated to finding the most exquisite tasting food and drink regardless of branding or packaging. This year's final judges included TV chef and author, Valentine Warner, MasterChef judge and restaurant critic, Charles Campion, fifth generation baker, Tom Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery, food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Waitrose, James Golding, chef director of THE PIG Hotels, and Kevin Gratton, chef director of HIX Restaurants, who together re-judged the 3-star winners to agree on the Top 50 Foods, the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the Great Taste Supreme Champion for 2016.
Great Taste 2016 facts
- 10,000 different products entered (Great Taste entry is capped at 10,000)
- Over 400 food and drink judges
- Judging took place across the UK and Ireland, including many sessions at the Guild HQ in Gillingham, Dorset, as well as several other Dorset venues
- This year's Great Taste Roadshows saw Great Taste judged at Fulham Palace in London, Hotel Minella in Clonmel, Tipperary and Belfast Metropolitan College's Titanic Quarter Campus
- 3,539 products awarded 1-, 2- or 3-star awards
- 141 awarded a 3-star
- Top 50 Foods announced in The Times on Saturday 6 August 2016
- EIGHT Golden Fork Awards for best regional food and drink
- ONE Supreme Champion
What are Great Taste judges looking for?
Above all they are looking for truly great taste. Yes, they take into account texture, appearance and of course quality ingredients; they like a good aroma, a decent bite to a sausage, a smooth lemon curd, crunchy rich pastry, but everything comes back to the taste. Is it really, truly great?
How do they work?
Each team of four judges blind-tastes around 25 products per session, 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 Great Taste stars. Food or drink that is deemed worthy of Great Taste stars is also tasted by a team of arbitrators, who taste, confer and agree on the final award given. If judges feel that a product needs some adjustment, and therefore not likely to receive an award, the food or drink gets a second chance on a referral table, where another team, blind-tastes and deliberates. For a Great Taste 3-star award, the vast majority in the room - which can be as many as 30-40 experts - must agree that the food or drink delivers that indescribable 'wow' factor.
What should consumers look for?
The black and gold logo. The Great Taste seal is their guarantee a product has been through a rigorous and independent judging process. It's not about smart packaging or clever marketing – it's all about taste.
★★★ EXQUISITE. WOW! TASTE THAT ★★ OUTSTANDING ★ SIMPLY DELICIOUS
ENDS
Images are available to view in the press room on the Guild of Fine Food website and high resolution images are available from amy@freshlygroundpr.co.uk.
For further information, please contact any of the following:
Amy Brice at Freshly Ground PR on +44 (0) 7717 893123 or at amy@freshlygroundpr.co.uk.
Tortie Farrand at the Guild of Fine Food on +44 (0) 1747 825200 or at tortie.farrand@gff.co.uk.
