Small, artisan food producers from across the country - including several North Bay purveyors of cheese and charcuterie, preserves and pickles - were recognized during the Good Food Awards ceremony last month at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Building.
Organized by The Seedling Projects (a San Francisco-based organization that supports the sustainable-food movement) and hosted by Slow Food proponent Alice Waters, the first-ever awards were designed to spread the word about small, local and sustainable food producers across the nation.
"We wanted to bring to light the state of American food, in terms of how good it is," said Sarah Weiner, director of the Good Food Awards and co-founder of The Seedling Projects. "And we wanted to create a signal to consumers that they've found something that's not just sustainable or socially responsible, but also delicious."
Out of the 780 entries, there were 130 finalists and a total of 71 winners in seven categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves. There were 80 judges from five different regions.
Among the charcuterie winners was the Girl & the Fig restaurant of Sonoma, which won an award for its coppa, a traditional, Italian cold-cut made from the shoulder muscle of a pig.
The Girl & the Fig executive chef John Toulze said he cures his coppa the old-fashioned way.
"We rub it with spices in the refrigerator for 18 to 21 days, then we take it out and rub it again with fennel or cayenne," Toulze said. "We case it in natural casing and hang it in the curing room for another 3 to 6 weeks."
Toulze, who serves the coppa on charcuterie plates and antipasti dishes, noted that there's a big difference between his housemade coppa and the kind you can buy at the grocery store.
"Instead of trying to say, &‘How do we take a process that took two months and turn it into two weeks,' we're saying, &‘How do we do it the right way?'," he said.
Like other Wine Country chefs, Toulze likes to source the best local products for his menu, so he crafts many of those products himself.
"The closer you are to it, the fresher it's going to be," he said. "We make all our bacon and pancetta, terrines and p?? .
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. our own pickles, vinegar and olive oil." To celebrate his Good Food Award, Toulze has showcased his coppa with some pepperonata relish on a crusty baguette at the Girl & the Fig and served it on a wood-fired pizza at Estate in Sonoma.All of the winners of the Good Food Awards were asked to serve their products at a marketplace held Jan. 15 during the farmers market held at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza."I was just blown away by the number of people and the quality of the products," Toulze said. "The cheeses were just phenomenal. There were some kimchis to die for and a purple cabbage sauerkraut that was incredibly good."North Bay winners for cheeses included the venerable Red Hawk triple-cream cheese from Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma. But Nicasio Square, a washed-rind cheese launched just a year ago by the Nicasio Valley Cheese Co, also won an award."It was quite an honor to be included in that select group," said Rick LaFranchi of Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. "I was told there were 45 entries, and there were eight winners, chosen on a regional basis."The washed-rind cheese comes from a Swiss-Italian recipe provided by cheesemaker Mauritzio Lorenzetti of Maggia, Italy, where the LaFranchi family has roots."It's a cousin of Taleggio, made in an 8-inch square," LaFranchi said. "It's aged 30 days .
To celebrate his Good Food Award, Toulze has showcased his coppa with some pepperonata relish on a crusty baguette at the Girl & the Fig and served it on a wood-fired pizza at Estate in Sonoma.
All of the winners of the Good Food Awards were asked to serve their products at a marketplace held Jan. 15 during the farmers market held at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza.
"I was just blown away by the number of people and the quality of the products," Toulze said. "The cheeses were just phenomenal. There were some kimchis to die for and a purple cabbage sauerkraut that was incredibly good."
North Bay winners for cheeses included the venerable Red Hawk triple-cream cheese from Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma. But Nicasio Square, a washed-rind cheese launched just a year ago by the Nicasio Valley Cheese Co, also won an award.
"It was quite an honor to be included in that select group," said Rick LaFranchi of Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. "I was told there were 45 entries, and there were eight winners, chosen on a regional basis."
The washed-rind cheese comes from a Swiss-Italian recipe provided by cheesemaker Mauritzio Lorenzetti of Maggia, Italy, where the LaFranchi family has roots.
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