This week saw a celebration of Britain's food heroes at The Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards held at BBC Broadcasting House, and The Thali Café were proud to be awarded with ‘Best Takeaway’.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were among those presenting accolades, with Charles describing the winners as "real heroes and heroines, who are creating food with a story to tell".

He added that there had been a "truly remarkable resurgence" of Britain's food culture over the last 10 years. But he warned people were creating problems by "treating food as an easy commodity rather than a precious gift from nature".

Thali Owner Sidharth Sharma collected the prize presented by last year’s Chair of judges and Gordon Ramsey protégé Angela Hartnett.

On receiving the award Sid was asked to comment on the Café’s success, "We just didn't want to go down the usual route of foil and leaking plastic. The award is recognition of all the environmentally positive things we've been trying to do."

Judge and Michelin Guide inspector Simon Parkes, who came to Bristol to visit the four Thali Cafes, described the food as ‘exquisite’ and praised our ways of sourcing ingredients from nearby farms. He went on to comment on The Food Programme that The Thali Cafes have “a wonderful method of delivery, a great atmosphere, and a classic meal delivery system - a blueprint for genius!”

Among the celebrities at the event were Chef and Winner of the Food Personality of the Year Award, Nigel Slater, plus Raymond Blanc, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and cheese-maker and Blur bassist, Alex James.

You can listen to a recording of the awards on the BBC website. 

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nz1bf