FINALS

Thousands applied for the 2022 European Street Food Awards. In 16 different countries. Hundreds competed. And the national champions travelled across the continent to impress our judges – and the general public – at Sugar Mountain in Munich. Hosted by the genius Die Street Food Family, all weekend, in the late summer sunshine. They were the best street food traders in the whole of Europe – democratically elected. And their food impressed the heck out of EVERYONE….

Of course – this being the European Street Food Awards – there were ‘unforeseen circumstances’. The Norwegians arrived a day late, when Swedish customs decided to make a fuss about the lack of paperwork that accompanied their reindeer meat. And the Finns had to serve carrot and lichen soup – and not a lot else – when their elk sausages somehow got sent to the Netherlands. But word about the event spread quickly. And it was all right on the night.

We had a FANTASTIC team of judges. But they had an unenviable job – choosing the Champion. And 12 other individual Awards. While everyone who came to the event was given a vote in the People’s Choice. It was a massive step up from last year. Street food is throwing up lots of new ideas and approaches to delicious, affordable, entertaining food – that comes with passion as standard – in our post-Covid world. These are the food heroes of tomorrow. Roll on 2023. This is how it all went down…

European Street Food Awards Champion 2022:
Winner – Junk from Scotland and Britain
Second Place – Silli Cokkur from Iceland
Third Place – Pastrami Summer from Poland

People’s Choice:
Winner – Awa from Germany
Second Place – Silli Cokkur from Iceland
Third Place – Porcobrado from Italy

Best Sandwich – Joint winners:

Porcobrado – Italy – Bread with ancient Tuscan stone-ground wheat; outdoor-raised, grass-fed pork, slightly smoked and BBQ cooked at low temperature; beetroot sweet and sour sauce; melted Tuscan Pecorino cheese with sweet giant Tuscan garlic

AND

Pastrami Summer – Poland – Pastrami sandwich: pastrami (bbq smoked beef brisket), caramelized onion, pickled cucumbers, mimolette cheese, horseradish sauce, corn baguette

Best Vegetarian:

Awa – Germany – The Patacon, filled with goat cheese, chicken, curry mango sauce, pesto creme and plantain.

Best Snack:

Junk – Britain – The Spanish Armada: Crispy Jersey Royals, sobrassada, aioli, charred lemon, puree de patatas and black garlic

Best Burger:

Silli Kokkur – Iceland – Gooseburger with 10% cheese, smoked blue cheese, truffle sauce, red onion jam with Icelandic cloudberries, blueberries and ruccola.

Best Main Dish:

Vinkalni Pizza Family – Latvia – Pizza Francescana – Romana-style pizza, baked in a wood oven, with mozzarella, tomato and oregano sauce, prosciutto crudo, sun-dried cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, mushrooms, fresh rucola and parmagiano

Best Dessert:

LiVERTEN – Norway – Cloudberry panna cotta

The “Going The Extra Mile” Award: Kusmiku – Finland, for travelling for four days and STILL managing to smile when their main menu ingredients got shipped to the Netherlands instead of Germany.

The Newcomer Award: Bar Samar – Bulgaria

Spice Award: Kuku – Denmark

Future Food Legend Award: Karl-Heinz Drews – Germany

Best Looking Award: Papa Piada – Sweden

Here is the full list of finalists for the 2022 European Street Food Awards:

LiVERTEN – Norway – (champion 2022)
The LiVERTEN signature dish is Libab – a Norwegian reindeer kebab. “It’s a meal of reindeer, with mushrooms, onions, pickled red onions and salad, and comes wrapped in thin, stone-baked bread that we bake in our own bakery. The kebab is then slathered with our famous cranberry dressing.” The team are also serving elk sausages at the ESFA. “The meat has little but healthy fat and is rich in vitamins and minerals. It’s a pure and natural luxury from the national parks of Norway.”

Thai Moving Noodles – Switzerland – (champion 2022)
So – you DON’T have to go to Thailand to have the best Thai noodle soup in the world. You just go to Switzerland. Or, for one weekend only, Munich! “Kauy Tiew Moo is our signature dish” says Aon. “It’s served with rice noodles, pork meatballs, soy beansprouts, fresh coriander and spring onions – and our secret pork bone broth. In Thailand we season our noodle soup to our own taste. That’s why we have the seasoning set out the front of our food truck. I think this is a very unique.”

Kuku – Denmark – (champion 2022)
The new Prince of Denmark (that’s a Hamlet reference) is Sean at Kuku! With an Iranian taster menu of Ghorme Sabzi, the national dish, he wowed the people of Copenhagen – and the judges – at the 2022 Danish Street Food Awards. The herb stew, with juicy beef, red kidney beans, sun-dried lime and turmeric – served with saffron rice – was the dish that did it. And maybe the Sholezard, Kuku’s exquisite rice pudding. But what has he got planned for Germany?

Porcobrado – Italy – (champion 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
Angelo Polezzi breeds Cinta Senese pigs on his farm in Cortona, Tuscany. This breed of little piggies has been knocking around since the Middle Ages and, when reared free range in Tuscany, are the only European hog breed to have protected DOP status. ‘Our sandwich is made exclusively with the meat of our animals,’ says Angelo. ‘Our pigs live in the wild and are fed only with local products, especially Tuscan barley and field beans. Smoked initially with cherry wood, then cooked at a low temperature, and finally cooked again on the wood-burning barbeque in our truck.’ Then, Porcobrado take things a little further with their sandwich, made by their own hand, from the ancient Tuscan grain called Verna – grown at their own farm. ‘It’s not pulled pork,’ says Angelo. No, Angelo, it certainly isn’t.

Karl-Heinz Drews – Germany – (people’s choice 2022)
As a resident of Munich with a Swabian soul, it’s Motörhead and not Mozart that drives Karl-Heinz Drews to culinary excellence. This chef isn’t just about fine dining. “I’m also a master butcher and barbecue king, known from my tv series on DMAX” he says. “The grill is my stage, and fire is my element.”

Junk – Scotland and Britain (champion 2022)
“Covid hit us all pretty bad but rather than drink ourselves into a blunder we decided to create a little recipe website together – wearejunk.co.uk. A combination of our fine dining backgrounds and infatuation for all things not good for you. We’re not your average Junk. 2 years later: 0 bank balance; 2 kids; 100+ recipes published; 12 pop-ups; 2 Street Food Awards (Scotland and then Britain); and 1 restaurant in the works. We’re loving life!” Expect something a bit different yet familiar. “With every dish we create we try to nail five main points – sweet/salty/sour/soft/crunchy. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, just trying to bring the absolute best out of each ingredient we use.”

Silli Kokkur – Iceland (champion 2020, 2021, 2022)
There are true giants in the world of street food – game changers and disrupters who have rewritten the rules of what “street food” is. There’s Hawker Chan, whose humble soya sauce recipe was recognized by Michelin and received the title of “The World’s First Hawker Michelin-starred Meal”. There’s Roy Choi, the Korean-American chef who created the Korean-Mexican taco truck Kogi, and founded the gourmet food truck movement.

And now, maybe, there’s now Sigvaldi Jóhannesson. Sigvaldi – better known as Silli Kokkur – is a hunter, and now he’ll take his wild game menu (featuring everything from goose chowder to his famous reindeer burger) to Munich to represent Iceland. His appreciation of nose to tail eating is a REAL breath of fresh air in a fast-food world full of processed and pre-packed meats.

Papapiada – Sweden – (people’s choice 2022)
This lovely couple live for piadina, also called piada, an Italian flatbread originating from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. The origins of the bread go back to the 15th century. Traditionally, the bread is pre-baked, heated, and filled with cream cheese, salami or air-dried ham (prosciutto). “We at Papa Piada fill it with both the traditional flavours but also with a new way of thinking and with lots of love!” Check out their signature piadina – the Agostino. Agostino was Michel’s father, who came to Sweden in the 60s and loved it so much he stayed. So it has to be one special piada – fresh cheese, arugula, Parma ham 12-24 months, tomato, green onion, grated parmesan, pickled red onion and home-made truffle mayo.

Kusmiku – Finland – (champion 2022)
Kusmiku from Heinola won the 2022 Finnish Street Food Awards with a truly ancient Karelian dish – uunipaisti. In recent years, the world’s new food heroes have turned the streets into a laboratory for hot new food ideas proving that good food doesn’t always come with silverware and napery. But Kusmiku are happy to prove that that doesn’t mean abandoning good things from our past. Far from it.

“We made a new version of uunipaisti,” says Miku from Kusmiku. “Traditional Karelian stew includes slow-cooked meat pork and beef and root vegetables – we do it street food style! That means slow-cooked pork neck, pickled carrots, sour cream-yogurt, lingonberries and parsley, served on traditional Finnish potato flatbread instead of boiled potatoes. It looks like tacos, tastes like Finland. Pure and simple.”

Pastrami Summer – Poland – (champion 2021, 2022)
Dawid Józefowiak, chef, founder of Pastrami Summer, started the food truck in 2016. Today he’s got four restaurants. “However, we still use our food truck to bring delicious food to the most important events in the country. We represent the BBQ culinary technique at its best – street food edition. The technique of smoking meat is very strongly rooted in Polish cuisine, and we’re always eager to add a twist.”

The Pastrami Summer team use wood, smoke and passion to create their dishes. “Our smoker was specially designed and made by us. And so was we our food truck. It was painted by a local artist. It’s very distinctive. People at the other end of the country are often stopping us in the parking lot, getting to know our food, liking our dishes very much and remembering us for the next time.”

Vinkalni Pizza Family – Latvia – (champion 2022)
The traveling pizzeria Vinkalni bring the party to where they’re at. That means authentic Italian pizzas, made – on site – in a wood-burning stove built into a classic, retro bus. With its own roof terrace. The dough recipe comes from Umbria, where Artis and Tom’s mother was studying 15 years ago. Vinkalni travel around with a sound-system that never stops. “Everyone is well-fed, and entertained, and no one needs to wash the dishes” say the Vinkali team. What is “Mama Mia!” in Latvian?

Bar Samar On Wheels – Bulgaria (champion 2022) 
Bar Samar was originally a converted horse box, right next to the stables, in the mountain village of Trigrad. But Bar Samar (“samar” actually means saddle) has now evolved into Bar Samar On Wheels. “We are now creating a culinary experience for all senses” says Margarita. And she wants to transport that experience to Munich. The first question they asked us? Can they bring their barbecue. Too RIGHT you can bring your barbecue. Gather round the flames for their traditional Bulgrian menu: from their Chef’s Sandwich (a hunk of bread stuffed with pulled pork and slow cooked onion) through to Tikalnik with potatoes and cheese, the classic mature pork neck in herbs, and veal sausage with walnuts and truffles.

Awa – Germany – (champion 2022)
Awa Kandji-Bachtig is excited to compete in the grand final of the 2022 European Street Food Awards for ONE reason – “I want to show that our food in Senegal is the best food in the world”. The German champion is showcasing the West African cuisine, which has strong North African, French, and Portuguese influences – a fusion of the nation’s many ethnic groups. Awa’s signature dish is her curry with peanut sauce and fresh vegetables. And the Patacon sandwich, filled with goat’s cheese, chicken, curry, mango sauce, pesto and plantain. “We make cultural, traditional food from Senegal” says Awa. “And the people on the street love it.”

Złote Paluchy Churros – Poland – (people’s choice, 2022)
It’s a street food success story. From one trailer, six years ago, to the biggest street food company in Poland. It all started when, after 11 years aways, Krzysztof came home to Poland to find churros were still unknown. “I bought a trailer, made a dough and for six months I tested it on my friends” he says. “We still make our churros with just the one type of flour, eggs, sugar, spices – and a drop of sweat as our magic ingredient.” The churros maniacs are always developing new ideas. “Churros dumplings for instance” says Krzysztof. “Sweet and savoury. And we’re probably the only people on the planet to do churros burgers!” Will they do them in Munich? Let’s hope so!

And here is the full list of entry dishes for the 2022 European Street Food Awards:

Best Sandwich

Papa Piada – Sweden – Piadina filled with love and; Fresh cheese, beef and Italian sausage in wine with truffles and herbs. Served with Swedish pickled cabbage, red onion and fresh carrot, plus baked Parmesan chips and mixed salad.

The Bar Samar – Bulgaria – Chef’s sandwich: A hunk of our artisanal bread, stuffed with mix of green salads, tomato, cucumber, pulled pork, slow cooked onion, sweet and spicy mayonnaise sauce and egg as a finish

LiVERTEN – Norway – Li-bab Norwegian reindeer kebab: reindeer, with mushrooms, onions, pickled red onions and salad, wrapped in thin, stone-baked bread baked in LiVERTEN’s own bakery. The kebab is then slathered with their famous cranberry dressing. 

Pastrami Summer – Poland – Pastrami sandwich: pastrami (bbq smoked beef brisket), caramelized onion, pickled cucumbers, mimolette cheese, horseradish sauce, corn baguette

Porcobrado – Italy – Bread with ancient Tuscan stone-ground wheat; outdoor-bred pork, (on pasture), slightly smoked and cooked on BBQ at low temperature; peanut butter cream, maple syrup, caramelized onion

Silli Kokkur – Iceland – Reindeer hot dog with pear, apple and raisin jam, cured and smoked goose leg confit, sriracha hot chilli sauce and crushed wasabi nuts. In a potato and butter bun made especially for Silli in Iceland.

Kusmiku – Finland – Karelian potato flatbread

Best Vegetarian

VINKALNI PIZZA FAMILY – Latvia – Pizza Vegetariana Gourmet. Romana style pizza, baked in a wood oven, with mini mozzarella, tomato and oregano sauce, grilled vegetables, pine nuts, home-made caramelized onions and fresh basil

Papa Piada – Sweden – Piadina stuffed with cream cheese, hot beans and semi-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese crunch, yoghurt and honey dressing, pickled silver onion and mixed salad

Thai Moving Noodles – Switzerland – KUAY TIEW VEGI : Thai noodle soup with tofu, carrot, chinese cabbage, bean sprouts, spring onions, coriander

The Bar Samar – Bulgaria – Tikalnik – smashed potatoes with herbs, cheese with truffle, wrapped in filo pastry and stone baked to a crunchy finish

Awa – Germany – The Patacon, filled with goat cheese, chicken, curry mango sauce, pesto creme and plantain.

Kuku – Denmark – Ghorme Sabzi – Ash Reshte Thick and heart noodle dish with all kinds of veggies, herbs, beans and lentils cooked in aromatic spices and topped with Kashk (Iranian liquid whey) caramelized garlic and onions plus mint oil. Ash Reshte also comes in a vegan option with plant based yogurt instead of Kashk

Best Snack

Junk – Britain – The Spanish Armada: Crispy Jersey Royals, sobrassada, aioli, charred lemon, puree de patatas and black garlic

Pastrami Summer – Poland – BBQ pork rib: Polish-style cut pork rib glazed with gooseberry bbq sauce, salt-baked potato, Polish quark cheese, parsley.

Kusmiku – Finland – Rudolf’s Rind Sausage

Zlote Paluchy Churros – Poland – Churros savoury dumplings: hand-made churros dough stuffed with California sundried plums, Camembert and matured serrano ham. Served with a selection of dipping sauces.

Best Burger

Karl-Heinz Drews – Germany – Surf N Turf

Silli Kokkur – Iceland – Gooseburger with 10% cheese, smoked blue cheese, truffle sauce, red onion jam with Icelandic cloudberries, blueberries and ruccola.

Karl-Heinz Drews – Germany – Bavarian Truffle Burger

Best Main Dish

Thai Moving Noodles – Switzerland – KUAY TIEW MOO : Thai noodle soup with pork, meatballs, bean sprouts, spring onions, coriander

Kuku – Denmark – Ghorme Sabzi – Herb-based Iranian stew with red kidney beans, turmeric and sun-dried limes. Served on top of steamed long grained basmati saffron-rice with Salad Shirazi (a classic Iranian salad) and Masto Khiar dressing, the Iranian version of tzatziki.

Awa – Germany – Senegalese curry with peanut sauce and fresh vegetables.

Junk – Britain – Monsieur Crabs: Crispy soft shell crab kaarage, yuzu kosho tartare, charred gem lettuce, kimchi, flaked Port Seaton white crab meat

Best Dessert

LiVERTEN – Norway – Cloudberry panna cotta

Zlote Paluchy Churros – Poland – Churro sandwich with original mascarpone cream and fresh fruits  