FRENCH superstar Guillaume Brahimi has returned to the judging panel for the second year of the Delicious awards which will be announced among a who’s who of the Aussie food world in Sydney tomorrow night.
Divided up into categories of Earth, Dairy, Sea and Paddock, the annual awards recognise the best Australian growers and producers of primary and artisan produce and Brahimi says the Aussies even outshine producers in his native France.
“We do a lot of things better here than the French,” Brahimi said, adding that Australia has managed to achieve in five years which took Europeans ‘around 30 years’.
“Here people are willing to admit they might be wrong. Or to admit things can be done better and they’re happy to learn from others.
“There’s no stubbornness. Whereas you go to Europe and you might have two winemakers one kilometre apart and they have never spoken.
“I think that’s why we achieve so much here.”
So impressed with this year’s offerings, Brahimi has even included two finalists into the menu of his soon-to-be-opened Guillaume.
For the first time he will begin working with the producers of Robbins Island Wagyu in Tasmania.
And he already has a longstanding relationship with Delicious awards finalists The Butter Factory in Myrtleford and considers their butter to be the best in the world.
Brahimi and fellow national judges including Christine Mansfield have, in the past several weeks, narrowed more than 60 products down to 19 finalists.
Meanwhile, blind tastings will decide the produce category winners, to be revealed in Sydney tomorrow along with other awards including Producer of the Year, Best New Product; Hall of Fame, Outstanding Innovation and Farmers’ Market and Food Store.
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