London-based food enterprises with fifty employees or fewer have from today until 29 August to enter The Urban Food Awards.

The four categories are Best Urban Food:

• Producer (sponsored by Seeds of Change)
• Retailer
• Eatery
• Educator

…and when we say food, we mean drink as well but it was getting to be a bit of a mouthful, albeit a tasty one.

Urban Food Routes is supported by the Mayor of London. Rosie Boycott, who advises the Mayor on food issues and is Chair of the London Food Board, said: “This is a fantastic  opportunity for the best of London’s wonderful small food enterprises to get the recognition they deserve, both for their delicious food and for what they contribute to the vibrancy of the capital’s food scene.”

The Urban Food Awards are here to celebrate small, good food enterprises. As such, the judges will be particularly interested in those that do great stuff in their local communities and work hard for the benefit of people and planet more generally.  As well as turning out tasty tucker and having a sound business model, enterprises are encouraged to highlight any ways in which they:

• produce or use more sustainable food
• offer social benefits
• contribute to the local economy
• enhance the health of people and our environment

The public vote opens at the start of Urban Food Fortnight on 12 September. Enterprises that get the most votes in each category will be shortlisted for Urban Food Routes’ panel of expert judges, who will announce the winners in December.

Enterprises can find full details and enter at: www.sustainweb.org/jelliedeel/vote/

Read more about Urban Food Routes at www.urbanfoodroutes.org.uk

Keep a tweetin’ with #urbanfoodawards

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For more information about the Urban Food Awards, please contact Chris Young at London Food Link: chris [at] sustainweb.org  or 0203 5596 777

For more information about Urban Food Routes, please contact Monica Dolan at Plunkett Foundation: monica.dolan [at] plunkett.co.uk  or 01993 810730

Notes

Additional Urban Food Awards that are being nominated and awarded by expert judging panels will be:

• Capital Growth Enterprise Award
• Krys Zasada Markets Award
• Good Food Borough Awards

About Urban Food Routes
Urban Food Routes is a unique initiative funded by the Mayor of London and Seeds of Change. It is providing funding and expert advice to a variety of small food enterprises in London to help them thrive and benefit people in their local communities. The support is coordinated by the Plunkett Foundation, with help from Growing Communities and London Food Link. In April, the Urban Food Routes partners announced the thirty two, London-based, small food enterprises that are now receiving business advice and funding from The Plunkett Foundation. www.urbanfoodroutes.org.uk

Other work being funded by Urban Food Routes this year include:

The Start-Up Programme
Growing Communities is still offering financial support and mentoring to enterprises setting-up new, community-led box schemes to supply local people with fresh produce direct from farmers and other food growers.  This work is funded exclusively by the London Food Board. Enterprises can apply until Monday 15 December 2014 at: www.growingcommunities.org/start-ups

Urban Food Fortnight
Now in its fourth year, this annual London Food Link event gives Londoners the chance to feast on the fabulous ultra-local produce being grown, made and cooked on our doorstep. Activities from 12-28 September will include special menus from some of the capital’s top restaurants, pop-up events, supper clubs in growing spaces and allotments, botanical cocktail nights, foraging walks and urban cookery classes. People can find (and add) details of local shenanigans at: www.urbanfoodfortnight.org

The Jellied Eel
Published by London Food Link, The Jellied Eel is the magazine for ethical eating in London. Dished up every three months, The 'Eel celebrates the best of London’s local larder and foodie folks who keep the wellbeing of people and planet at the heart of what they do. Each issue of the magazine is read by more than 50,000 Londoners, who get their quarterly helping from around 150 of the capital's tastiest establishments. www.thejelliedeel.org

The Big Dig
On Saturday 22 March, more than 80 food gardens across London took part in the third annual Big Dig Day, run by London Food Link’s Capital Growth team. The event attracted 961 volunteers, succeeding in Capital Growth’s mission to encourage more people to help out at local growing spaces. Branching out beyond London, the day saw a further 300 volunteers digging in at 69 gardens across 15 other towns around the UK. For details of this, and future Big Dig events, visit: www.bigdig.org.uk

About the Urban Food Routes partners

The Plunkett Foundation is an active supporter of the community food sector, and since 2007 has helped over 1,900 community food enterprises, primarily through the Making Local Food Work programme, including The People’s Supermarket and Growing Communities in Hackney. www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk www.plunkett.co.uk

The London Food Board is an advisory group of independent food policy organisations and experts which oversees the implementation of The Mayor of London’s Food Strategy: Healthy and Sustainable Food for London, published in 2006 (and referred to here as the London Food Strategy) and to co-ordinate work and lead the debate on sustainable food issues in the Capital.
www.london.gov.uk/priorities/business-economy/working-in-partnership/london-food-board/london-food-board

Seeds Of Change® began as a small organic seed farm in the USA in 1989 with a simple mission: "To preserve biodiversity and promote the use of sustainable organic agricultural practices." Since then it has grown into a successful organic food business, with a range of cooking sauces, pasta sauces, pasta and rice and grains products, available across the UK. Seeds of Change is part of Mars Incorporated, a family-owned business established in 1911 across six business units employing more than 72,000 associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance. www.seedsofchange.co.uk

London Food Link is a key food-network of Sustain the alliance for better food and farming. Its initiatives include Capital Growth network of food gardens, Urban Food Fortnight, FoodSave, Capital Bee and Sustainable Fish City. I The Jellied Eel is its quarterly magazine for good food.  www.londonfoodlink.org

Growing Communities is a social enterprise run by local people in Hackney, east London, which operates an organic fruit and vegetable box schemes. Growing Communities’ work on Urban Food Routes is funded exclusively by the London Food Board. www.growingcommunities.org

22/07/2014