Nostalgia-laden Irish dripping
tops Great Taste for 2015
Pat Whelan, second generation owner
of James Whelan Butchers, collected the
Supreme Champion trophy for his Irish
beef dripping. He’s pictured (right) with
BBC Radio 2 food correspondent and
awards host Nigel Barden
By MICK WHITWORTH
Ireland reclaimed the top honours in
the world’s biggest fine food award
scheme last month after a traditional
beef dripping from James Whelan
Butchers in Co Tipperary was named
Great Taste Supreme Champion 2015.
The top trophy, sponsored by
Harrods, was presented on September
7 at the annual ‘Golden Forks’ dinner
at London’s Royal Garden Hotel.
Whelan’s product, made with suet
from grass-fed Angus and Hereford
beef clarified into a clear, richly
flavoured dripping, evoked a wave of
nostalgia among the Great Taste final
panel.
The win for James Whelan
Butchers, based in Clonmel, gives the
Ludlow Food
Centre’s
Edward
Berry
collected the
Shop of the
Year trophy
Republic its first Supreme Champion
since Woodcock Smokery’s wild
smoked salmon in 2006. But it follows
victories for Northern Ireland in 2011
(McCartney’s of Moira’s corned beef)
and 2012 (Hannan Meats’ guanciale),
cementing the island of Ireland’s
reputation for simple products based
on exceptional primary ingredients.
Among the other major Golden
Fork trophies, Berkshire craft brewer
Savour Beer was named Artisan
Producer of the Year for its Sparkling
Beer Brut, an innovative twist on a
classic Belgian Saison beer.
Chocolatier Åkesson´s of London
was named Great Taste Producer
of the Year after four of its single
estate chocolates made it into the
2015 Great Taste Top 50 Foods – the
highest achieving products out of
10,000 award entries.
Ann-Marie Dyas, founder of The
Fine Cheese Company, received this
year’s Guild of Fine Food Lifetime
Achievement Award.
And Edward Berry, whose
departure as MD of Ludlow Food
Centre was announced last month,
signed off in style by collecting the
Great Taste Shop of the Year trophy
for the pioneering Shropshire store.
• Meet the Supreme Champion and
read about all this year’s Golden Fork
winners – page 12.
www.greattasteawards.co.uk
Scottish farm shops benefit from
government-backed promotion
A campaign urging consumers
to choose farm shops over
supermarkets has been launched in
Scotland, supported by the Scottish
government.
The First Stop Farm Shop
campaign, which was unveiled by
Scotland’s cabinet secretary for food
and rural affairs Richard Lochhead,
will see a four-month social media
campaign targeting consumers
across the country.
It has been devised by the
Scottish Farm Shops Business Club,
and received around £12,000 of
funding from the Community Food
Fund.
This fund forms part of the
three-year Think Local initiative
which was set up to promote local
food and drink, and drive Scotland’s
reputation as a ‘Land of Food and
Drink’, by Scotland’s Rural College’s
(SRUC) on behalf of the Scottish
Government.
At last month’s launch, 50 out of
nearly 140 Scottish farm shops had
Rural affairs secretary Richard
Lochhead launched the campaign at
Craigies Farm Deli and Café
already signed up to the campaign,
running events and activities in store
and online under the First Stop Farm
Shop umbrella, coordinator Anna
Mitchell of Castleton Farm Shop in
Laurencekirk told FFD.
The scheme will concentrate on
the provenance of local food, the
importance of supporting the rural
economy, education about food and
farming and promoting health and
wellbeing, she said.
Launching the campaign at
Craigies Farm Deli and Café,
Lochhead said it was a great way to
encourage people to support local
farmers and take advantage of the
variety of Scottish fresh produce.
“For those lucky enough to live near
a farm shop, I would encourage
them to make it their first port of
call and support their local farmers,”
he said.
Will Docker of Balgove Larder
Farm Shop, which is taking part in
the initiative, said real growth could
be achieved if farming and food
collaborated with the tourism sector.
“Now more than ever before,
ther