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Five years ago, Slow Food London created the Slow Food Awards, initially running in the London & South East area, these awards were truly democratic – with no prior shortlisting, the winners were simply chosen by whoever got the most votes. These Awards were so powerful in highlighting Good, Clean and Fair, that we made them UK wide – and thousands of you voted over the summer and early Autumn. Each nation has their own winners, with the highest number of votes in a category also being the overall UK winner.
In addition to the public vote, each nation director chose their person of the year, their stories are below, with one of those of winners being crowned Slow Food in the UK Person of Year as well.
Slow Food Northern Scotland Winners – Winners in Bold are also Slow Food in the UK Winners
Best Butcher Grierson Organic, Perthshire
Best Baker Riverside Bakery, Stirling
Best Greengrocer East Coast Organics, Edinburgh
Best Fishmonger Welch’s Fishmongers, Edinburgh
Best Deli or Grocer Eusebi, Glasgow
Best Cheesemonger Iain Mellis, various Scotland
Best Market Edinburgh Farmer’s Market
Best Restaurant Cafe St Honore, Edinburgh
Champion Slow Food Product Lanark Blue Cheese, available nationally
Person of the Year: Selina Cairns
We have written at length about the battle of Errington’s Cheese with Food Standards Scotland and South Lanarkshire Council, but to say that this was David v Goliath is an understatement. In their obsessive anti-raw-milk stance, FSS and SLC brought a renowned artisan business to the edge, spent more than a million pounds, and lost every case they brought in court. That alone makes Selina a worthy winner. More than that, the Erringtons have gone to court to ensure that the presence of harmless strains of e-coli is not reason enough to destroy delicious and safe products. In doing so (and winning their cases) they have ensured that artisan quality products are available for us all.
Selina Cairns was nominated by Director for Slow Food Scotland, Walter Mowat
