Caroline Byrne of the Bridgestone Dublin parish had the enviable task at last weekend's Electric Picnic, in Stradbally, of deciding which of the many funky food stallholders were worthy to receive the first Bridgestone Guide Picnic Awards.
Indeed, food became a major element of the EP this year, as some of Ireland's best known chefs also did demos at the cookery stage, amongst them luminaries such as Derry Clarke and Rachel Allen.
Meantime, Caroline was hunting down the winners of the four Bridgestone awards:
The Best Dressed Food Award for presentation and style
The Greenest Gourmet Award for eco-friendliness
The Healthy Buzz Award for seriously healthy food
The On Our Doorstep Award for best use of local and regional ingredients
Best Dressed went to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, based in the Body & Soul compound, who provided festival goers with a picturesque Alice in Wonderland setting to enjoy tea and scones and toasted Gubbeen cheese sandwiches.
The Tiny Tea Tent on the Village Green was ‘Greenest Gourmet’, generating its own electricity through wind and solar power and using its tent to create awareness about deforestation of the tropical rainforest.
Dishing up the best healthy food this year was Goodness Gracious, with its healthy salads and exceptionally good veggie burgers.
And finally, the Gourmet Offensive took the ‘On Our Doorstep’ award for its tasty and “very good value” cuisine from around the world made from locally sourced produce.
Mad Hatters, Gourmet Offensive, Tiny Tea, and Goodness Gracious. Yep, must be the eclectic Electric Picnic all right.
