On June 29, 2023, Tourism of the Generalitat of Catalonia celebrated the National Wine Tourism and Gastronomy Gala at the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC).
The first edition of the Bite and Mos Awards took place during the event. The goal is to recognize the fundamental role played by the different digital food and wine content creators from different perspectives and fields: chefs, photographers, journalists, gastronomic travellers or foodies that have made their passion for food and wine their way of life or their profession, in a global and local context.
This way, the awards want to acknowledge and honour the creators who have the ability to make their content readily visible to digital audiences from the widest scope possible, such as directly from the restaurants and chefs themselves, but also from all types of content creators who have dedicated their work to the dissemination of restaurants and wineries.
The awards are divided into two categories: Bite and Mos.
Bite category. International scope. Includes the following subcategories:
BITE honorary award: the goal is to reward a relevant professional career in the food and wine field that has contributed to enhancing the value of the Catalan culinary culture by creating digital content.
AWARDED: Ferran Adrià for his brilliant and extensive career that started the revolution that put Catalonia at the forefront of global gastronomy and as the conceptualizer of content such as the Bullipedia.
Best foodie: the goal is to reward a creator who develops the best international content in the food and wine field.
AWARDED: Peter Atzen for his work promoting and disseminating, both restaurants recognized by 50 Best Restaurants or Michelin, as well as street food vendors. The jury considers him a lifelong foodie. Though he specializes in Danish and the Scandinavian cuisine, he is also an ambassador for Catalan cuisine when he visits us. He collaborates with World of Mouth, the prestigious gastronomic guiding app.
Best winefluencer: the goal is to reward the most influential content creator in the international wine sector.
AWARDED: Tom Matthews in recognition of his professional career and his special connection with Catalan wines. He began writing for The Wine Spectator magazine in 1987 and later became its executive editor. For a while time he was also the magazine’s chief lead wine taster for Spain.
Best food traveller: the goal is to reward a professional dedicated to creating and sharing food-related content in a travelling context.
AWARDED: Rafael Tonon as a tireless traveller and prestigious food journalist who feeds his social networks with discoveries and meals form around the world. He collaborates with media outlets such as Fine Dining Lovers or Eater and has recently been distinguished as the best food journalist by Identità Golose.
Mos category. National scope. Includes the following subcategories:
Best Catalan cuisine prescriber: a public figure who shares Catalan cuisine on digital media.
AWARDED: Nandu Jubany, a Michelin star chef, for his tireless task of disseminating and maintaining Catalan cuisine and as well as use of social networks to share Catalan recipe with the world.
Best ambassador: best content creator about Catalan cuisine.
AWARDED: Ada Parellada, chef, writer and communicator, for the decades of dissemination of Catalan cuisine, the commitment to sustainable food and the use of her social networks to inspire us to cook.
Best wine prescriber: best content creator in the Catalan wine sector.
AWARDED: Ruth Troyano, journalist and sommelier, for her commitment to Catalan wine, as thanks to the depth of her texts and her sensitivity she communicates that behind a glass of wine there is culture and territory.
Best collective: best digital presence from a collective related to Catalan food and wine.
AWARDED: Associació Dones de la Mar, a non-profit organization created in 2018 thanks to the collaboration of the two local fishing action groups in Catalonia, Mar de l’Ebre and Costa Brava, for their desire to give visibility to the role of women in the maritime field, while promoting their participation in the development of the primary, fishing and aquaculture, and disseminating their activity on social networks.
Jury
President: Mr Roger Torrent i Ramió, Business and Labour Minister.
Secretary: Ms Rosalia Pont i Mondéjar, Head of Brand Management of the Experiential Marketing Unit at the Catalan Tourist Board.
Panel:
Ms Marta Domènech i Tomàs, director general of Tourism.
Ms Georgina Tost i Faus, secretary of Digital Policies, appointed by the Department in charge of digital policies.
Mr Xavier Agell i Tuser, Head of the Secretarial Service of the Catalan Vine and Wine Institute (INCAVI), appointed by the Department responsible for agriculture.
Ms Sílvia Hofmann, appointed by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy.
Mr Toni Massanés i Sánchez, as a prestigious professional in the gastronomic sector.
Mr Quim Vila i Betriu, as a prestigious professional in the wine sector.
Mr Enric Jové i Bosch, as a prestigious professional in the digital marketing sector.
Ms Carme Gasull i Roigé, as a prestigious professional in the food and wine journalism sector.
