Edgy Veg Winner Announced!
As the last autumn leaves cling on to the branches, the Autumn Festival has wrapped up, and with it, The Edgy Veg Awards - an event run by Veg Action, an MRSG action group. It was an exciting month for the `13 cafes involved and for hungry customers who hit the trail to sample some, or all, of the 19 plant-based dishes entered in the competition. Just short of 500 votes were submitted. Most dishes scored well, but the one that emerged as firm favourite was… drum roll… Paysanne’s Sauteed Cauliflower!
The dish garnered nearly 100 votes from happy customers with comments such as:
“Love love love this dish! So delicious and incredibly tasty!”
“This is the breakfast of my dreams! So delicious and fresh, perfect for fuelling up before hiking. The vegetables were sauteed to perfection with dukkah and a side of hummus. So original, fresh and wholesome, I will be trying to make this at home”
A key intention of the event was to encourage cafes to serve more plant-based (and vegan friendly) dishes in the Ranges, and to encourage people to give them a go. Shifting towards balanced, sustainable healthy diets that feature plant based foods is one of four options listed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that are estimated to have the the most potential to reduce net emissions by 2030. Based on cafe feedback and comments by voters, the Awards have in part achieved this goal.
“First vegan dish experience for me… Far surpassed my expectations of how delicious a vegan dish could be. Aesthetically the dish looked fantastic and there were so many different tastes and textures. I thoroughly enjoyed the dish and it has changed my perspective and motivation to try vegan dishes in the future”
Mayor Jennifer Anderson helped announce the winner and noted “Macedon Ranges has such amazing produce and amazing cafes that magically turn that produce into something that looks beautiful and tastes delicious. (This competition).. gives people the opportunity to try vegan where they may not have before”
Owners of Paysanne cafe handing over their winnings to Rev Melissa Clark.
Sue and Thierry from Paysanne with Mayor Jennifer Anderson and Edgy Veg project officer Annalies Norland
Paysanne owners Sue and Thierry were thrilled to have won the $1,000 prize money. They have announced they want to donate the winnings to the Woodend Community Chest, a charity account run by Reverend Melissa Clark.
Congratulations Paysanne on winning Macedon Ranges Best Plant Based Dish 2022 award. Thank you to all the other cafes that got involved and promoted their dishes - special mention to Home Grown on Piper that also garnered a significant number of votes for their three dishes.
If you didn’t get a chance to get out and vote during the Edgy Veg Awards, it is not too late - check out the full list of dishes here: veg.mrsg.org.au/edgy-veg-awards