Cuisine Artisan Awards

This is a shout-out…

to artisan food producers and innovative food and beverage producers … the food awards are on, and closing date is the end of this month. This year the Cuisine Food Awards has joined forces with Massey University and NZ Food Awards to create an all-encompassing food, beverage and innovation awards.

Cuisine magazine has long championed artisan food producers. I had a quick chat with editor and co-publisher Kelli Brett.

“Cuisine has tremendous ability to encourage the development of and drive awareness of artisan products and the passionate people behind them. We want to shine a light on the very best New Zealand has to offer.

“Our artisan producers and their premium products will play a big part in the future of New Zealand food and our ability to become a premium food and wine destination. I’ve been struck by the strong spirit of collaboration here between chefs, restaurateurs and producers working together to tell their stories through food. It’s an important part of the New Zealand food story and one we can take to the world.

“This year marks the tenth annual Cuisine Artisan Awards. We have teamed up with NZ Food Awards because they run the nations largest food awards. Combining our knowledge of excellence within the artisan category with their impressive network and expertise will give our artisans additional opportunities for development and growth.

“If you are reading this you are a definite food lover and you must have a favourite artisan producer, in fact I bet you have more than one. Please encourage these producers to enter their products so that we can continue to support their development and growth,” Kelli says.

Some of you who follow Shared Kitchen may know I wrote for Cuisine magazine for 17 years, starting with issue one way back in 1987. Kelli Brett moved to New Zealand from Australia to take up the editorship in 2015, and in December last year purchased the title off Fairfax. That’s one big bite of Kiwi fare to tuck into. Their first issue was published in March this year.

Kelli says, “It’s exciting and petrifying in equal measure at the moment. I am only half of the equation. My partner Vanessa Stranan is also our commercial director and is just as devoted to Cuisine as I am. Lots of challenges lie ahead, but the support from around the country on the news of the purchase has been enormous and we are very grateful as we work on taking Cuisine into the future and figuring out how that will look. It feels right…

*Winners will be announced at a gala event in September, and artisan winners will be featured in the October issue of Cuisine magazine. That’s magazine coverage you simply can’t buy.