Childhood Memories of Food — The YBFs 2017

Awards ceremonies, especially for bloggers, are often little more than a PR exercise for the organiser and main sponsor. Worse still are the public-vote events, a back slapping exercise amongst nominees and voters for those who work their social media the hardest during voting, getting vital coverage for that sponsor.

Because of this, I only enter competitions that are independently judged by people who I respect and require no publicity to garner votes, thereby avoiding the rather tiresome ‘LOOK AT ME, VOTE FOR ME’ nature of many blogger awards.

The YBFs

Earlier this year I entered the Young British Foodie ‘Fresh Voices in Writing’ competition, otherwise known as the YBFs. These awards are industry judged by well respected figures within the food world, so represent a great opportunity for recognition of high quality work. Sadly, my valiant effort fell short of the exceptionally high standard of entry, the crown landing on the well-earned head of Livvy Potts, whose blog’s honesty is a pleasure to read.

Now that the event has passed and the red carpet packed away for another year, I want to share the piece I wrote as my entry. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Insipid juices formed a kidney shaped pool at the edge of the plate, a meat-tinted paddling pool of my youth…