Meet The Judges

At the final of the first ever European Street Food Awards you would expect to see a stellar line-up of traders – nine national champions no less. It makes sense, then, to put them in front of a stellar line-up of judges too. While the People will have their own voice at the Awards (side note: remember to vote in person AND through the European Street Food app), from 12pm on Sunday October 1 traders will also be looking to impress some of the biggest names in the industry.

Names like the Trustee Director of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, Ursula Heinzelmann; journalist Antje Wewer; and the founder of the European Street Food Awards Richard Johnson. We’ve even made sure to bag some double Michelin-starred talent — all in the name of deciding who’s truly top dog. Namely Daniel Achilles. It took him 18 months of planning before he opened Reinstoff, but it won a Michelin Star after less than a year. In 2011 it got its second star, and Daniel has gone on to win Gault & Millau’s prestigious award for Chef of the Year.

“Berlin has established itself as one of the street food metropolises of Europe in the last few years” says Daniel, “and the European Street Food Awards are showing this as well. I find this development extremely exciting, because this brings new influences to our city, which we all benefit from. Sitting in the jury will certainly not only be a lot of fun, but will also give me new culinary impressions, which I’m very much looking forward to!“

Daniel will be joined by food writer Ursula Heinzelmann, who also apprenticed as a professional chef – and studied wine for a year at the Heidelberg hotel school. At some point she discovered cheese (or did cheese discover her?) and slipped into writing. As well as books, she now contributes to publications such as Effilee, Slow Food, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung as well as Gastronomica and Saveur.

“Street Food is a perfect seismograph of what people really like to eat” says Ursula. “A link between inside and the great outdoors; us and them; and the European Street Food Awards are an exciting opportunity to have a selection of the very best next to each other. I’m excited and honoured to join in the judging here in Berlin!”

Making up the panel will be Antje Wewer, a founding member of SALON Magazine, a new glossy about food and hospitality. Throughout her career, she has interviewed numerous noteworthy chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Wenzel Pankratz of Forsthaus Strelitz, and she loves to travel in search of food.

“I’ve been on an extensive around-the-world-trip this year” says Antje, “and the best part of it was exploring the street food in the different countries. No risk, no food fun” she says. Making up the judging panel will be Richard Johnson, an award-winning food journalist and the founder of the European Street Food Awards who will be picking up the plates and stacking everything in the dishwasher.

At 2pm, after the judging is done, we will be convening a round-table discussion on The Future Of Food. Our judges will have their say, as will a few surprise guests and Tommy Tannock, a dark-haired Brit whose slight build belies the amount of food one imagines he must consume for his job — running Bite Club with Miranda Zahedieh in Berlin and The Store Kitchen in London.

The results of the first ever European Street Food Awards will be announced at 3.30pm, with plenty of time to try the winners before shutters at 6pm.