Sofi Awards 2015 (Awards Ceremony and After Party)

Monday, June 29, 2015

The Sofi Awards: The Best of Specialty Food is touted as “a celebration of taste and innovation.”

This was the first year I attended, because it was the first year that an After Party was made available to attendees of the Summer Fancy Food Show.

The Awards Ceremony was from 5 to 7 p.m. and I arrived just after the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Awards.

 

 

Some of the Sofi winners were:

APPETIZER, ANTIPASTO, OR HORS D’OEUVRES

Lone Mountain Wagyu, LLC

100% Fullblood Wagyu Beef Summer Sausage

CHEESE

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.

Bay Blue

CHOCOLATE

Laurie & Sons

Dangerously Delicious Black Licorice Chocolate Toffee

COOKIE, BROWNIE, CAKE, OR PIE

Hot Cakes

Organic Molten Chocolate Cake—Dark Decadence

CRACKER

Grains of Health, LLC

Laiki Black Rice Crackers

HOT BEVERAGE

Tea Forte, Inc.

Vanilla Pear Tea

MEAT, PATE, OR SEAFOOD

Fra’ Mani Handcrafted Foods

Salametto Piccante

PASTA SAUCE

Sauces ‘N Love, Inc.

Pumpkin and Kale Alfredo Sauce

SAVORY SNACK

Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods

Sweet Chili Chickpea Chips

SOUP, STEW, BEAN, OR CHILI

Cook San Francisco, LLC

Nona Lim Thai Curry and Lime Broth

Biggest trend of the night, appeared to be the ingredient, “caramel,” with the following products also honored:

CONFECTION

Big Picture Farm, LLC

Goat Milk Chai Caramels

DESSERT SAUCE, TOPPING, OR SYRUP

Coop’s Microcreamery

Salted Caramel Sauce

PASTA, RICE, OR GRAIN

Nella Pasta, LLC

Corn, Caramelized Onion & Thyme Ravioli

And the evening’s final two awards going to:

NEW PRODUCT

Big Picture Farm, LLC

Raspberry Rhubarb Goat Milk Caramels

PRODUCT LINE

Fat Toad Farm

Goat’s Milk Caramel

It was heavily promoted that Ted Allen of Food Network fame would make an appearance. As a huge fan of Chopped, I was looking forward to seeing him “Live”! Instead, his “appearance” was via a pre-recorded video, so that was a bit disappointing. Not sure whether he was scheduled to appear as presenting the awards and then unfortunately had to back out at the last minute, but he made a surprise announcement that Chopped judge Alex Guarnaschelli would be handing out the awards to the winners.

She was surprisingly sweet and lovely (as opposed to her gruff demeanor on Chopped—one of my sisters calls her the “mean” judge) and seemed genuinely happy for the winners.

 

The After Party commenced immediately after the ceremony (which ended around 7 p.m.), and was located just as one exited the Awards Ceremony.

 

I stayed for about half an hour and the drinks were plentiful, and many of the food items that were nominated were featured.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I would definitely attend again next year and probably go the next day to visit the Sofi award-winning booths (as each contestant’s booth number was listed on the program) to see if I agree with the judges’ choices!