An alternative butter spread made of pure avocado oil has been crowned as Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University’s Supreme Award winner at the 2024 New Zealand Food Awards.

Vutter Avo Spreadable by Feliz Wholefoods took out the highest honour of the night, while the other big award, the Product Lifetime Achievement Award, went to iconic Kiwi classic Edmonds Baking Powder.

It’s an exciting time in the culinary calendar - when the finalists of the New Zealand Food Awards are announced and celebrated.

After a robust and thorough judging process, four distinct themes were highlighted across this year’s finalists: functional ingredients, foods to meet specific consumer needs, foods for convenience and foods from different cultures. There were more than 300 entries from 91 companies this year, resulting in 64 outstanding finalists the motu.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and beverage producers, large or small, it’s your time to shine by entering your product or business into the New Zealand Food Awards.

This year, for the first time ever at the New Zealand Food Awards gala dinner, an activated finalist marketplace was created to help fundraise funds for national food rescue charity KiwiHarvest. KiwiHarvest has a proud history with the Food Awards, after being named the 2022 Food Hero winner. The charity was nominated and voted by the New Zealand public in recognition of their continued support of the New Zealand food and beverage industry by diverting edible food away from landfills to feed hungry Kiwis.

A vanilla that’s anything but average took centre stage at the prestigious New Zealand Food Awards last night, alongside our favourite bit on the side - tomato sauce that is! Heilala Vanilla, ‘the good vanilla’ producer that is locally owned and operated was crowned as Massey University’s 2023 Supreme Award winner for their new and innovative premium product, Alcohol Free Vanilla Paste.