Yep, it’s award season again, so get ready for hours of footage of The Glamorous from the red carpets of California. But this year, thanks to Seedling Projects, we happen to personally know a few of the winners: They organized the first annual Good Food Awards to honor companies who produce tasty and socially responsible food. Of the 71 stars crowned at the ceremony hosted by Alice Waters in San Francisco on January 14, three were old friend of the Edibles.
The first was Sweet Deliverance, a Brooklyn based food delivery company profiled in Edible Brooklyn and started by Blue Hill alum Kelly Geary. Knowing full well how hectic life can be (she’s a New Yorker, after all) Geary wanted to help people who would like to be involved in a community supported agriculture share but simply don’t have the time. Enter the Sweet Deliverance team. They visit local Paisley Farm every week then create meals from the seasonal, sustainable produce which they can deliver to their client’s doors. In other words, Sweet Deliverance literally brings the farm to your table—and in corn-based, compostable containers to boot. Kelly’s also got a book on canning in the works, too.
Taking home honors in the chocolate category was Madécasse, a company founded by three former Peace Core volunteers and also profiled in Edible Brooklyn. During their time in Madagascar, the founders of Madecasse noted that while 85% of the world’s cocoa is made in Africa, less than one percent of chocolate is actually made there. They made it their mission to solve this disconnect, and now all of Madécasse chocolates are made from bean to bar at the Ezaka Cooperative in Madagascar. Talk about guilt-free chocolate: Madécasse’s system of full scale production benefits the local farmers four times more than fair trade farming practices alone.
The small batch producers at Sour Puss Pickles put more love into every jar of vegetables than some companies put into whole fields of corn. One of their major pickling priorities is to work directly with local farms in order to make sure that their produce is not only fresh but has been grown in a sustainable fashion. Interesting flavors such as lemon cucumber and mustard tarragon asparagus give them bonus points for creativity.
Find a full list of award-winning producers at http://www.goodfoodawards.org/#.
