Judgement Day
A peek behind the aprons and the mystique of judging the 2024 Outstanding Food Producer Awards
Benches speckled with yellows and pinks, glistening jars, and finely folded cards. A dark marbled countertop lined, four rows thick, with inventive sweets and syrups, esoteric spreads, and cross-bred butters. Boxes and boxes of the morning’s finest produce—orange, red, and green. A sizzle and a crack—chicken, chops, fish, and cured sausage. Milk, cheese, and honey. Jams, chutneys, and bread. More meat, more butter, more sweets.
Such was the scene in February 2024 when an unsuspecting sunny nook of Auckland’s gleaming waterfront witnessed Judgement Day. Twice.
Hunkered down over two days in Homeland’s cookery school, a caucus of our country’s top culinary critics—preeminent meat maestros, gelato gurus and professional wonkas—tasted, savoured, and graded the finest specialty food and produce New Zealand has to offer.
From bite-sized bonbons to chilli-glazed fried chicken. Biscoff tiramisu ice cream, to organic tomatoes. A river of room-temperature water, a sea of plain salted crackers. 358 products, 122 producers, 21 judges and one in-house chef. This eighth year of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards saw a record number of entries, with a host of first-time entrants and the debut of a dedicated chocolate category.
Founded in 2017 by veteran marketers and food industry experts Nicola McConnell and Kathie Bartley, the Awards recognisable stickers now adorn over three million products annually. The Champion, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are industry-recognised packaging adornments sending consumers the visual cue for food and drink excellence.
But who decides if a block of chocolate or a leg of lamb is a bonafide foodie standout?
Producers benefit from the experience and expertise of a diverse cohort of industry cracks. These experts range from Elle Coco of the British Academy of Chocolate and International Chocolate Awards to former French Cafe owner Connie Clarkson, top-class chef and culinary lecturer Geoff Scott, and famed chef, food writer, and restaurateur Peter Gordon.
Divided between six or eight panels on each of the two consecutive judging days, judges bite, nibble, sip, and, in moments of involuntary abandonment, devour products across seven categories: Paddock, Water, Earth, Chocolate, Dairy, Drinks, and Free From (products made specifically to be without conventional ingredients, for example, wheat).
Judging is double-blind, with only a simplified list of ingredients provided to the taste panels. Of course, these food junkies need very little else to get on a roll.
Hovering from table to table, discussion points range from “more salt” to nuanced analyses of the structural integrity of a tempered chocolate fish. On paper, constructive criticism is detailed, measured and neutral. Marks are weighted 90% to classic measures of delectability - aroma, visual appearance, taste and flavour, consistency, and quality. A panel of sustainability specialists - Emily King, founder of Spira, and Fiona Stephenson, Marketing Manager of Sustainable Business Network - adjudicate the remaining 10% allocated to environmental and socially sustainable business practices.
Head Judge Lauraine Jacobs professes that the Awards and judging process grow more professional and refined yearly. An internationally respected food writer and author, she helps make decisions when opinions are tied. Having her role since the Award’s inception, Jacobs is particularly impressed by the continual quality of fresh produce submitted. She declares New Zealand’s food and wine “really the very best”, highlighting our red meats, fish, and milk. And she would know. In addition to having cut her teeth and sliced her onions at Le Cordon Bleu, London and elite Parisian kitchens, her taste buds still harbour flavours of a recent Anglo-Franco-Morocco escapade, arriving back to Aotearoa just in time to conclude the Class of ‘24 up there with anything else around.
But what of the Awards themselves?
Beyond the coveted medal system, judges choose seven Category Champions, five Outstanding Champions and then food lovers are invited to choose two Kiwis’ Favourites - a top food producer and a top farmers’ market. From the seven-category champs, a single fabled Supreme Champion is born. Products that don’t reach the required quality benchmark score do not receive an award - in 2024 that was 27% of all entries.
But a producer doesn’t have to reign supreme to gain something from entering. The premier panels’ invaluable feedback and critiques assist every entrant, especially smaller operators looking for steps to elevate themselves to the next level.
With judging for 2024 complete, find the medal winners here. For the inside word on the Champions look out for the May/June issue of NZ Life & Leisure and if you haven’t already, sign up on this website to receive our monthly food digest ‘Outstanding Eats’. If you’re a producer who’s new to the Outstanding Food Producer Awards and likes what you're hearing, the 2025 Awards open in December 2024 - with entry from this very website.