Earlier this month, we made our way to the Islington Metal Works in London for the 2022 StrEAT Food Awards, hosted by Contract Catering Magazine. The event saw some of the UK’s biggest and best contract caterers including Amadeus, BaxterStorey, Elior, Lexington and Sodexo, battling it out to take home one of three coveted titles including Street Food Dish of the Year, StrEAT Food Chef of the Year and Meat-Free Dish of the Year.

This year saw the popular competition return for the fifth time with finalists demonstrating stand-out innovation with their creations. After an intense day of culinary challenges, we joined the finalists and their supporters for the evening festivities. Making our way round the venue, we sampled some delicious offers from the sponsors (including a mysterious and slightly disquieting sounding ‘Quorn inspired dessert’ which turned out to be delightful) and enjoyed an espresso martini (or two!) before gathering with everyone for the hotly anticipated award ceremony.

Friend of jellybean and popular ‘catertainer’ DJ BBQ, took to the stage to commend all the finalists for their hard work and announce the winners. Stuart Dale from Mellors Catering took home the prize for Meat-Free Dish of the Year with his dish of Venezuelan Arepas, followed by previous winner, Adams Collison from Sodexo who won StrEAT Food Chef of the Year. Eliot Hilton from Houston and Hawkes took home the main award of the evening – the Street Food Dish of the Year with his squid ink bao buns creation.

Congratulations to the winners and all the finalists and a massive thank you to H2O Publishing for pulling together another inspiring event. As a leading food and drink agency, we are proud and honoured to show our support to the hard-working individuals who help to make this beloved industry as extraordinary as it is.

To find out more about the StrEAT Food Awards and other H2O events, please visit: https://h2opublishing.co.uk/