The Eat Game Awards (EGA) have now opened nominations for their second edition – 2019. This will give food fans the opportunity from now until 1 November 2019 to shout from the rooftops about their favourite game producer, butcher, retailer, chef, pub and restaurant.* Voting for the top 10 in each category starts after that.* If all the businesses involved in game encourage their customers to nominate and vote, enthusiasm for this vital and versatile homegrown produce will start gaining the momentum it deserves.
Co-founder of the Awards and Chairman of Purdey, James Horne explains: “The Eat Game Awards are not only vital to help build the profile of this healthy, homegrown meat, they support and encourage small businesses championing this industry. Local and national recognition through awards can have a significant effect on sales and credibility. It can give a business confidence to progress. I was overjoyed to see the huge number of small businesses that entered the awards last year and how they were deservedly celebrated and I’m hoping there will be even more this year.”
Game meat is, first and foremost, delicious, and its rise in popularity will be reflected in UK retail sales, which are expected to increase 73% to £145 million over the decade from 2011 to 2021*. Its many other attributes – wild, seasonal, sustainable, versatile, nutritious, lean and barely-any-food-miles – have got chefs’ creative juices running wild. Dishes that strike a chord include Phil Howard’s partridge hotdog, Richard Corrigan’s treacle cured venison loin, Jeremy Lee’s salt mallard with pickled prunes, Scott’s venison croquette and Bistro Forty-Six’s venison bon bons, to mention but a few.
“Eating game is one of life’s no-brainers,” says Chef Proprietor of Michelin starred Elystan Street, Phil Howard, “given that it is so abundant in this country. It is seasonal, and purely from an eating point of view works so incredibly well with the earthy flavours of autumn and winter vegetables – given a lift with perky preserves of elderberries and jellies. It’s local, lived happily and it’s lean, nutritious and cheap – and it tends to come in the hand or a box – not plastic.”.
