Grand Total of $40,000 Awarded To Six Deserving Organizations
Fueled by $40,000 in grants given by the Austin Food & Wine Alliance, six Austin-area culinary innovators will receive funding to help realize their dreams and further propel the city’s skyrocketing culinary scene.
The highly anticipated 2015 Austin Food & Wine grant award winners were announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, December 8 at AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center. Four emergent artisan product companies, a local farming & youth development non-profit, and a high school culinary arts program were the recipients of $40,000, the AFWA’s largest disbursement of funds since the organization began providing grants in 2011.
The grant winners are Texas Keeper Cider for $12,000; Two Hives Honey andMeridian Hive Meadery, each for $8,000; Urban Roots and Salud! Bitters Company, each for $5,000; and Manor High School Culinary Arts Program for $2,000.
The 2015 grants will help fund support of an artisanal cider taproom to feature uncommon micro-batches of dry ciders and unique cider/wine hybrids using Texas-grown ingredients; a hyper-local line of all-natural, raw comb honey products harvested from micro-apiaries in Austin neighborhoods; Austin’s first and only meadery to expand production with innovative and diverse ingredients to meet the high demand of unique sparkling ‘session meads’; updating curriculum for a local non-profit using an East Austin farm to transform the lives of young people and support community food programs; a small-batch, handcrafted bitters company using responsibly foraged, locally sourced organic ingredients that seeks to gain FDA certification and provide educational tours for Texans; a high school culinary arts program needing working appliances for a student-run restaurant and catering business that serves families staying at the Ronald McDonald house. | |