The year was 1996. Tamara Scott (now Scott-Williams) was lifestyle editor at the Observer and was in search of someone to broaden the newspaper’s coverage of food.

At the time, Jamaica’s food industry was on the threshold of sophistication, with a younger, savvier set of restaurateurs and producers coming to the fore.

Scott looked to the Terra Nova Hotel and invited its dynamic sales and marketing manager, Novia McDonald-Whyte, to cover this exciting industry for the Observer.

McDonald-Whyte took up the challenge and within a year the Observer’s food pages became the authority on what was hot, new and sexy in the industry.

By December 1997, McDonald-Whyte was seeing the immense potential of this venture into cuisine journalism and pitched the idea of a ‘Grammy-like’ night for food to Observer directors Dr George Phillip and Patrick Lynch.

Both men embraced the idea, and the Observer Table Talk Food Awards was born, with the first event held in May 1998 at Red Bones the Blues Café.

Maybe it was that the concept of a food awards was new to Jamaica why only about 70 of the just over 100 invitees turned up on that humid evening.

But guest speaker, the then Cabinet minister John Junor, himself a bon vivant and fountain of knowledge about the international food industry, did justice to the event and it was obvious from his presentation that he, too, saw its potential.

Since that night, the Observer Food Awards has grown to become Jamaica’s premier food event, celebrating excellence in food creation, service and décor.

In fact, so huge has the event become – with more than 50 exhibitors and hundreds of guests – that the organisers were forced to change the venue to the Devon House East Lawns. And even that venue now is becoming cramped.

Over the years, a food seminar was added to the festival, which is now held over two days and attracts world-reknown chefs and trade press from overseas.

As well, Lifetime Achievement awards have been made to some of the great names and products in the Jamaican food industry, and each year the event provides full scholarships to students studying hospitality at the University of Technology.

This year, the awards will be 10 years old, and our select judges are already in place as are a number of firms who have secured both their space and sponsorship for the event, which will likely be the most memorable to date.

Save the Date:

The Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards

Vale Royal

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Seminars Monday, May 26; Tuesday, May 27 and Wednesday, May 29 at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.