Every recipe tells a story. And every family has one – a recipe that tugs at your heart strings, makes you laugh, brings back memories and sums up all that’s great about food - its ability to delight our senses, bring people together and spread joy and happiness.
That's what Food Glorious Food is all about.
Food Glorious Food is a competition for budding cooks – and the prize couldn’t be more mouth-watering - the winner gets to see their dish on the shelves of Marks & Spencer stores all over the UK as well as receiving a cash prize of £20,000.
We have scoured the country in search of a very special dish that everyone in Britain will, for the first time ever, be able to buy and eat in stores nationwide.
In each of the regional episodes Carol Vorderman tours the country in search of the great and the good plus she finds out what – or who – inspired them to enter. Was it a proud parent, a pushy partner or a delighted dinner guest?
Dishes prepared, each contestant has to face one of the Food Glorious Food judges: globe-trotting gastronome Loyd Grossman, food writer and Historian Tom Parker Bowles, self-taught baker extrordinaire Stacie Stewart and WI top brass Anne Harrison. Each judge will hand out rosettes to the dishes they feel most delight the senses and capture the imagination, but before the day is out they must each choose their dish of the day.
At Judges HQ, the four remaining regional contestants have to cook their beloved recipe again, this time for all four judges to taste. The judges then do battle to pick just one to dish to go through to the semi-final and represent their region.
After much deliberation, six contestants will reach the semi-final stages. Our judges will travel to the homes of the semi-finalists to break the news of the next stage of the competition.
Across two semi-finals the six regional winners of our heat episodes will be whittled down to two finalists who get one step closer to a dream come true. And for the judges, it’s the moment their protégés need to ready themselves to make the big leap to the next level – from local heroes into national culinary sensations.
Then it’s time for the big challenge, our semi-finalists will be asked to cook their dishes on a scale they’ve never been cooked before, preparing 150 perfect portions for 150 special diners.
The tasters at the big dinner will blind taste each of the three competing dishes and each vote for the dish they believe deserves a place on the shelves of M&S. In each of the two semi-finals, only ONE dish will go through to the Grand Final.
In The Grand Final both finalists will make their way to London, where presenter Carol Voderman will reveal the news that their dishes are going to be trailed in stores across the country, thousands of tasters, thousands of votes, but only one winner.
With the prize tantalisingly close, there is a huge challenge ahead, before the dish can be produced on a mass scale the two finalists will work with M&S to turn their recipes as into a final product that could ultimately end up in stores across the country.
With dishes ready, thousands of samples will be distributed around the country, each potential customer that tries the dish will vote on whether or not they would buy the dish.
As the results from the trial runs our counted, are finalist head back to London, surrounded by their family and friends, the winner of Food Glorious Food is revealed. So stay tuned...