SOMETIMES, when one launches a new venture, one can be fearful of having bitten off more than one can chew.
But that, thankfully, was far from the case when we launched the inaugural search for The Herald Food Hero, a brand new category in the annual Food & Drink Excellence Awards.
This was the first time members of the public had been invited to participate, and our readers responded in their droves; we had nominations from all over the country, demonstrating that the food and drink scene is vibrant throughout Scotland - from north to south, east to west, in rurual areas as well as in our big cities.
Those nominated included producers of smoked trout and haddock; organic meat, venison, and wild game; rapeseed oil; vegetable bags for delivery; pies; artisan pasta sauces, chilli jams and chutneys; chefs and restaurateurs; community and artisan bakers; wild foragers, and many, many more.
The winner, announced at a glittering ceremony in Edinburgh last night, was Iain R Spink of Original Smokies, Arbroath, whose product even inspired a poem from one reader; one wonders whether the delicacy should be served up with parsley, sage, rosemary and rhyme.
Our thanks go to all who sent in nominations. The search begins again in January; we are already hungry for the challenge.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article