WHILE locals already know how delicious Tathra Oysters’ produce is, now it’s being recognised nationally.
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Gary and Jo Rodely were in Brisbane overnight as their business was named the winner of the ABC Delicious magazine produce awards in the From the Sea category.
A humbled and slightly overwhelmed Gary Rodely called in from the top of the Brisbane Eye this morning to talk about Tathra Oysters’ overnight win.
“We’re pretty chuffed,” Mr Rodely said.
“We’ve been so focused on the President’s Medal that the ABC Delicious awards sort of slipped by us a little.
“[However] the exposure we’ll get out of it is phenomenal.”
The ABC’s Delicious magazine has a readership of around half a million Mr Rodely said.
In addition to that, he said all the winners were told on Monday night they would be featured in the 2013 series of Aussie television juggernaut Masterchef.
In figures available on the OzTAM website – Australia’s official source of television audience measurements - Masterchef claimed between 1.2-1.4million metropolitan viewers each episode throughout 2012.
Masterchef host Matt Preston was emcee at the Delicious Produce Awards announcement in Brisbane on Monday night.
The latest issue of the ABC’s foodie magazine was released on Wednesday and features all the winners and medallists from this year’s awards.
“It looks great, there are recipes and nice photos and so on in there,” Mr Rodely said.
While the national exposure gained as a winner in the award is invaluable to Tathra Oysters, next week the Rodelys are in the running for $10,000 as one of six finalists in Australia’s highest produce accolade, the President’s Medal.
“It’s amazing that they’re within a week of each other,” Mr Rodely said.
Established in 2005, the Delicious awards highlight small and artisan producers and a growing interest in sustainability, with nominations doubling this year to 2000.
“Delicious is proud to recognise Australian producers, who are such an important part of our thriving food industry,” editor-in-chief Trudi Jenkins said.
Some of the country’s leading chefs, food writers and industry experts joined forces to decide on this year’s winners.
Produce judging took place over four days in Sydney, where national primary produce judges Matt Moran, Philip Johnson, Cheong Liew, Alla Wolf-Tasker, and awards patron Maggie Beer, together with artisan produce judges Simon Marnie, Martin Boetz and Valli Little, tasted their way through more than 130 finalists’ products from around the nation before selecting winners and medallists in categories including From the Earth, From the Dairy, From the Paddock, and From the Sea.
The panel “swooned” over Tathra’s Sydney rock oysters, grown in the pristine waters of Mimosa Rocks National Park.
“They tasted as if they were plucked straight from the sea,” Ms Wolf-Tasker said.