AWARD WINNERS

We had the chance to speak with various of New Zealand’s top, award-winning brands. With a range of New Zealand, locally-made and delicious products, ranging from family-recipe curated specialty meats to thirstquenching juices, plant-based category leaders and more.

The Award Winners of New Zealand is an opportunity to showcase the best New Zealand has to offer, sharing the nationwide pride taken in curating and crafting products of the highest quality possible, showing New Zealand’s strengths and ability to compete nationally and internationally with its excellence of product.

Premium Plant-Based Cheese

A love of food and nature were the drivers for New Zealand’s most award-winning plant-based epicurean cheese maker Auda Finan when she started Savour in 2017. Made in an Auckland pilot plant, Savour’s purpose is to produce delectable plant-based foods to satisfy any cheese and butter-loving connoisseur. At Savour, the aim is to create innovative plant-based taste experiences.

Savour vegan creamery produces artisan, functional plant-based products from natural ingredients that taste delicious, according to the judges and lovers of Savour Cheese.

New Zealanders, traditionally a dairybased culture, is a hard nut to crack, but the delicious taste of Savour’s premium cheeses wins Kiwis over every time.

Savour’s first award was at the 2018 New Zealand Food Awards, in the chilled and short shelf-life category, where the brand won the Gold Award for Casheta, Savour’s marinated feta. Savour also received a finalist award in the same year for Butta. Finan added that the brand was very humbled to receive these awards.

In 2019 Auda pitched Savour and won a place in the Good Food Boost. She was grateful to receive this opportunity and mentor advice to help grow Savour.

In 2021, Savour won the Flavoured Cheese Award for Cumin and was runnerup for Camembert, Chipotle and Feta in the Vegan Society of Aotearoa Cheese Awards. Savour also won the Award for Best Artisan Cheese in the Vegan Society of

Aotearoa Dairy Free Awards.

2022 was a big year for Savour, receiving the Supreme Winners Award at the Vegan Society of Aotearoa Cheese Awards, Gold Medals for Casheta and Soft Cheese and runner-up for Flavoured Cheeses with Ash and Chipotle and Soft Cheese with Cumin. Savour received Silver Awards for Casheta, Ash, and Cumin and Bronze for Chipotle and Butta at the Inspire New Zealand Artisan Awards.

This reconfirmed Savour was on to a good thing. Finding a great-tasting dairy-free cheese is the hardest challenge for vegan, lactose intolerant or plant-based consumers, and Savour delivers on this.

Savour is at the cutting edge of artisan cultured cashew products and crafting the traditions of the future. Finan gave a big thank you to all of Savour’s followers, tasters, and judges. Auda will continue to inspire this growing market with new recipes in keeping with seasonal trends across social media and at events.

For more information, visit www.savour. co.nz. n