'young british foodie..'

Last night was the Awards evening for the Young British Foodie Award. Aspiring chefs, food experimentalists, baristas, mixologists, charcutiers and people with a passion for food generally took part in this new and exciting competition. I thought I would take a punt in the meat category.

I have been experimenting with a black pudding recipe since my journey into butchery began really and I thought this might be a fun way of show casing my idea, and also to receive some harsh and realistic criticism. Rather than giving it to mates who would tell me it tasted awesome even if it was rubbish. (I refer back to the Black Pudding prototype of the early days...). However after several nightmare attempts I sorted the recipe for Girl Butcher's Pepper Pudding. And it went down well. Thank God.

The judging took place in the quirky venue of Meat Liquor I was the second of three finalists. I got to meet the lovely Mark who runs Monty's Deli and he did this incredible pastrami, which he does with brisket - superb. The other was Matt who is a very fine charcutier - this man knows his stuff. After we had been judged we all stayed around for a beer (..or two) and we chatted for a long time about the meat industry and various cooking methods. It felt fantastic to be a meat geek and be surrounded by people with equal geek-i-ness.

This was then well and truly re-endorsed last night, so many people just so passionate about food. It was incredible. It was also a pleasure to meet many people from Twitter, who have supported and helped me so far too. I feel like a very lucky girl indeed.

Buzzing, still.

gb