Welcome To The Third Vegan Chocolate Awards

The Vegan Society Aotearoa are pleased to announce their third annual Chocolate Awards which will be judged on 29th April at Khu Khu restaurant in Ponsonby. There will be six judges attending the awards, each one offering a unique perspective on the award categories and from their own areas of expertise.

The Society is delighted to welcome Tracy Berno, who is a Professor in Food Studies at AUT. She has worked in food for over 30 years in roles ranging from academic to presenting cooking classes and demonstrations to catering. Thomas Netana Wright has a rich background in Europe's and the UK's finest patisseries and chocolatiers, Thomas is on a mission to redefine the essence of chocolate. His journey from prestigious Michelin-starred kitchens to launching Ao Cacao reflects his passion for ethically and sustainably grown cacao, combined with unique Pacific and Aotearoa flavours for an unparalleled bean-to-bar experience. Our final new judge is Giapo Grazioli, the founder and chef at Giapo Ice Cream. 
Giapo saw that ice cream had the potential to be more expressive than what it had been so far. In his mind ice cream had to carry a different narrative and anyone who has visited the store in Downtown Auckland, knows this is a most delicious narrative!

Our stalwart judge, Aaron Pucci, has clocked up 25 years in the food and beverage manufacturing industry. His trusted palate has earned him numerous seats on judging panels for awards in New Zealand and Australia over 15 years. Judge Jasbir ‘Jazz” Kaur is a multi-award-winning executive chef & trainer, TV personality, creative head and chef of the new series “Ignite the Chef in You” and President of the NZ Chef Association Auckland, Chef Jazz is an external verifier for City and Guilds, UK. Floris Niu is a fourth generation Samoan Cacao farmer, processor and Chocolate-maker. She’s the founder of Ms Sunshine Organic Farms which operates Cacao Agritourism experiences on Upolu island.

This year for the awards there are 2 new categories added, Bark/ Brittle chocolate and Dipped Fruit! As always the awards showcase the best that Aotearoa has to offer, with entrants accepted from all over the world, the product must be commercially available in New Zealand.

The categories that are open for entrants until 28th April are:

• Dark Chocolate bars
• Milk Chocolate bars (plant milk only)
• Chocolate Bars; flavoured/ inclusions
• Filled chocolate Bon Bons and Truffles
• Caramels
• Bean to Bar; dark milk/ subs/ flavoured
• Drinking Chocolate
• Bark/Brittle Chocolate
• Dipped Fruit
• Supreme

For more information visit https://vegansociety.org.nz/vegan-chocolate-awards/

© Scoop Media