11 years of the delicious. Produce Awards

This year marks 15 years of NewsLifeMedia’s premium food title delicious. and 11 years of its annual Produce Awards.

At the heart of it all, delicious. prides itself in being the mouthpiece for Australian produce and producers.

The delicious. Produce Awards were held at Pier One Sydney Harbour Hotel, with a backdrop of a brightly lit Luna Park and the water reflecting the Sydney lights.

“I started cooking when I was 15. I could not get a job,” chef Matt Moran, who was the MC for the evening, told the crowd. “I went to about 20 job interviews. I reckon my 15th job interview was in this hotel. The restaurant [at the time] was called Harbour Watch. I remember the chef said to me, ‘If the first 10 guys don’t work out, I’ll give you a job.’ I wonder where the prick is now.”

National Judging Panel Matt Moran, Andrew McConnell, Maggie Beer, Alla Wolf-Tasker Shannon, Bennett, Guillaume Brahimi, Christine Manfield, Peter Gilmore

The 300 people crowded in one of the event rooms at Pier One roared with laughter.

This was Moran’s first time hosting the event alongside delicious. editor-in-chief Kerrie McCallum.

“I reckon when Kerrie asked me, that email was meant to go to Matt Preston,” Moran joked. “First time for everything.”

Last year, delicious. columnist Matt Preston was the MC for the night, held at the Bennelong Restaurant and Bar in Sydney.

NewsLifeMedia chief digital officer Julian Delany

After a start time of 6:30pm, the actual awards proceedings began at 7:30pm.

Some of the big winners of the evening were: Matt Stone from Oakridge (Outstanding Chef), La Tortillaería (Outstanding Innovation), Josh Lewis from Fleet in Brunswick Heads (Unearthed Next Gen Chef) and Wagyu’s David Blackmore (Maggie Beer Award for Outstanding Contribution).

The guests were given a generous gift bag as they left the venue, packed with a variety of Australian produce from the nominees and winners of the awards. The delicious. branded bag contained: Pangkara’s Australian Chickpeas, La Tortillaería’s Corn Tortillas, Tasmanian Sea Vegetables’ Red Lettuce, Olsson’s Sea Salt Flakes, Cobram Estate’s Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, BundaGinga’s Ginger, Pepe Saya’s Ghee, Tasmanian Sea Salt’s sea salt, Gundowring’s liquorice, Dry Ideas’ tea, Murray River Gourmet’s salt flakes, Colette Dinnigan’s tea towels, Garlicious Grown’s Black Garlic, a loaf of bread from Brasserie Bread, a book by chef Shannon Bennett called “Cooking All Over the World”, and a copy of the October 2016 issue of delicious. magazine.

Chef Guillaume Brahimi and news.com.au editor-at-large Melissa Hoyer