The Food Museum Announces First Annual Global Food Heritage Awards

Albuquerque, November 15, 2004---Putting a spotlight on the often unheralded subject of food history, The FOOD Museum today announced twenty-six winners of the first Global Food Heritage Awards. The winners include the city of Albuquerque, the state of Iowa, and the country of France, as well as the founder of the Slow Food movement, Italy's Carlo Petrini, honored for his food heritage preservation efforts.

The FOOD Museum also recognized California's Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts; Sainsbury's Virtual Archives, UK; Switzerland's Alimentarium, the Food Reference Website; the NY Food Museum; Saveur Magazine; the UK's  Guardian newspaper; Rhode Island's Culinary Archives and Museum at Johnson & Wales University; UCLA's Fowler Museum; the Splendid Table radio program, and a trio of museums about the Salt Marshes of Guerande, France, among others.

Francewins the national award as a country actively dedicated to preserving its culinary traditions and history at all levels, through national initiatives such as "Sites Remarquables du Gout", (Exceptional  Food Heritage Sites), as well as regional food-focused tourism undertakings.  France boasts more food-related museums and sites than any other country.  Cited for excellence on the regional level, the USA state of Iowa, home of the World Food Prize, is also a leader in preserving living history farms, barns, heirloom seeds,  and creating food educational programs for young people.  The city of Albuquerque has encouraged and supported the preservation of some of the US' oldest continuously farmed fields, it is preserving evidence of ancient native American farming traditions, and its  Biopark includes a heritage farm site.