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Pantry

The Good Food Awards celebrates cultural authenticity, regional flavors and traditions with our pantry category! Umami-packed miso paste, pungent sambal, spicy hot sauce, colorful salsa and a plethora of savory condiments, made from responsibly sourced, GMO-free ingredients, will be considered for Awards this year.

About

The Good Food Awards rely on the expertise of the pantry community to create the tasting, determine judges and set standards for the category. Read on to learn who has been integral to building the category, as well as what the pantry standard are and who will be judging this year.

Committee

Co-Chairs

Kelly LeCoy

Communications Director at Real Food Real Stories – San Francisco, CA

Kelly is the Communications Director at Real Food Real Stories, a storytelling organization on a mission to humanize the food system. At RFRS, she uses all forms of media to connect the dots through story for eaters, farmers, chefs, and makers. Kelly has a diverse background in marketing and brand strategy, ranging from an incubator for culinary entrepreneurship to packaged food brands. She believes wholeheartedly in the power of story, through the shared lens of food, to change our world for the better. She loves that work spills over into life, but outside of food and marketing you can find her in a book, exploring California, or on her yoga mat.

Stacy Ladenburger

Director of Operations and Editor at GuildSomm – Oakland, CA

Stacy Ladenburger is the Director of Operations and Editor at GuildSomm, a membership organization and online publication for wine professionals worldwide. Prior to this role, Stacy worked at grocery delivery startup Good Eggs and Oakland’s Ordinaire Wine Shop. She is also a writer whose work can be found at DelightfulCrumb.com and in past pages of Edible San Francisco and Edible Silicon Valley. Stacy has participated in the Pantry category since its inception in 2015. A Michigan native who has lived in the Bay Area for seven years, she is still smitten with California produce.

Committee Members

Bonnie Burgess, Nutrition Student and Consultant, Bauman College
Maddie DeWitt, Assistant Culinary Director, Good Eggs
Geronimo C. Ramos, Founder, Rooted Table

Standards

In order to be eligible for a Good Food Award, pantry entries must meet the following standards:

  • Made in the USA or US territories.
  • Made with a balanced objective of local, organic and highest-quality.*
  • Made with transparency in supply chain.**
  • Free of high fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients, including colors, flavors and preservatives.
  • Made with rBGH-free milk, where milk is used.
  • Made with domestic, non-petroleum based vinegar where vinegar is used.
  • Free of genetically modified ingredients.
  • Made with spices that are certified organic, Fair Trade or traceable to the farm level.*
  • Made by a crafter that is an upstanding member of the good food community, oriented toward growing their business in harmony with a better food system.

*Ingredients that make up less than 2% of the product, such as spices, sugar or lemon juice, may be sourced from farther afield, or from a larger distributor.
**That is, an earnest attempt is made to verify the origin and production methods of the ingredient. If made with ingredients that are not grown domestically on a commercial scale, a farm-direct or certified organic source is sought out and documentation of this search, including notes on calling distributors, is provided.

Subcategories

Additionally, pantry entries must fit within one of the following subcategories:

  • Pantry Sauces & Pastes (e.g., miso, sambal, curry paste, hot sauce, BBQ sauce)
  • Salsas, Relishes & Chutneys (e.g., onion chutney, tomatillo salsa)
  • Condiments (e.g., mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard)
  • Flavor Bases (e.g., fish sauce, soy sauce)
  • Maple Syrups
  • Nut Butters
  • Vinegars

Judges

Erin Scott

Food Photographer, Erin Scott Photography

Candice Jordan

Director of Marketing, Greenleaf Bay Area

Kai Hinson

Product and Sourcing Manager, Patagonia Provisions

Greg Dunmore

Co-Founder, The Japanese Pantry

Sam Mogannam

Founding Partner, Bi-Rite Market

Ron Tanner

VP, Philanthropy, Government & Industry Relations, Specialty Food Association

Ori Zohar

Co-Founder, Burlap & Barrel

Chris Bailey

Culinary Microenterprise Developer, Portland Mercado

Mary Richter

Culinary Director, Surdyk's Inc

Nitika Dhamankar

Director of Product Innovation, Kitchentown

Shireen Santosham

Chief Innovation Officer, San Jose Mayor's Office

Maya Wong

Associate Editor, Sunset Magazine

Annie Svigals

Portfolio Lead, Design for Food, IDEO

Maya Wong

Assistant Editor, Sunset Magazine

Christa Chase

Executive Chef, Tartine Manufactory

Michelle McKenzie

Cookbook Author

Anna Castellani

Owner, Foragers Market

Asha Loupy

E-Commerce Manager, Market Hall Foods

Debbie Conti

Consultant/Buyer, D.Conti

Anthony Strong

Chef/Owner, PRAIRIE

Amani Ali

Director, Programs and Policy, Mandela Partners

Renee Frojo

Founder, Taavi

Edwina Clarke

Head of Nutrition, Made For_

Alison Acerra

Founder, Chief Strategist, Strategic Nutrition Design

Pat Flatley

Sales, Teranga Baobab

Karen Leibowitz

Executive Director, The Perennial Farming Initiative

Sana Javeri Kadri

CEO, Diaspora Co.

Roxanne Webber

VP Media, ChefsFeed

Thuy Tran

Co-Founder, Rooted Recipes Project

Phyllis Grant

Writer, Recipe Developer, Dash & Bella Blog

Allyson Holt

Vice President, Merchandising, Cost Plus World Market

Pei-Ru Ko

Founder, Real Food Real Stories

View the 2019 pantry winners.