Knight’s Kitchen and Planet G Food are celebrated as joint winners at the Scottish Street Food Awards, highlighting the vibrancy and diversity of Scotland’s culinary scene.
Scottish Street Food Awards Crown Joint Winners
The Scottish Street Food Awards have crowned Knight’s Kitchen and Planet G Food as joint winners in a fiercely contested competition. Held as part of the Edinburgh Food Festival, the awards saw numerous traders vying for the coveted title through a combination of public votes and judges’ evaluations.
Knight’s Kitchen, a family-run venture, boasts a unique menu inspired by traditional Kenyan recipes crafted in Mama’s jikoni (kitchen). The team, originally from East Africa, showcases a variety of flavours from across the continent, bringing a taste of Kenyan culture to numerous festivals and events around Scotland.
Planet G Food, co-founded by Chef Gemma and her wife Marta, has carved a niche by creating plant-based versions of popular junk food. The couple’s dedication stems from a desire to counteract unsustainable practices prevalent in commercial kitchens. Leading up to the competition, they piqued interest with their fully vegan haggis burger, a dish they hoped would help capture the judges’ attention and win the public’s approval.
Chef Gemma shared her thoughts, saying, “We sometimes feel that being a plant-based business, we need to push harder with our food. People tend to be less willing to try things if they’re vegan. Winning the Scottish Street Food Awards would open so many doors for us and help us to prove that our food is as good as, or better than, any meat version. We’re representing the country too with our homemade haggis burger, so that would be amazing to bring to the European finals.”
The awards, established by Richard Johnson, founder of Food Mutiny, highlighted the growing prominence of the street food scene in Scotland. Johnson expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “Scottish street food is experiencing a well-deserved moment in the sun right now. The chefs and vendors at the Edinburgh Food Festival this year are proving that there is real vibrancy and ingenuity in Scotland’s kitchens – a blend of cultures and sustainability that champions local produce and truly delivers on taste. Knight’s Kitchen and Planet G are the perfect examples of that.”
Traders and vendors competed across the weekend, with Planet G Food also securing the People’s Choice Award. Authentic Lebanese street food truck Lazeez was the runner-up for the public vote, while Scotland’s first crumble bar, the Crumbleologist, secured third place in both the public and judges’ evaluations.
With their victory, both Knight’s Kitchen and Planet G Food will advance to the British Finals in London, scheduled from September 13 to 15.
The Edinburgh Food Festival, which started in 2015 as part of Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink, continues to celebrate local food and drink producers. This year’s festival, running until July 28, features talks, demonstrations, and hands-on workshops for attendees.
For further details about the festival, interested parties can visit the event’s official website.