Professional Food Competition
Mark your calendar for the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Grand Tasting, Saturday, October 14th! The Harvest Fair Professional Food Competition is an opportunity for culinary creators and local makers to showcase and promote their products.
Awards will be advertised through the website, media releases and at the Awards Night Dinner, Sunday, October 1.
Judging Coordinator
Anne Vercelli
About Anne
To say that Anne Vercelli has spent her entire career immersed in all things food and wine would be an understatement. The term “it’s in her blood” aptly applies to this Healdsburg native whose Italian heritage fostered her deep love of food and wine from an early age.
“It was always very important to my family that we all come to the table and eat together”, explains Anne who credits her mother with being an excellent cook. These early memories undoubtedly played a role in determining Anne’s path into the culinary arts.
After earning a B.A. in Food & Nutrition from CSU, Sacramento she went on to graduate from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York. She earned the coveted position of a C.I.A. Fellowship serving as a kitchen supervisor in the campus’s Escoffier Room and later working in the catering department. She describes a memorable experience when she was selected by the C.I.A. chefs to work for a month at the Seagram’s corporate office at 375 Park Avenue in Manhattan. She was tasked with preparing lunches for 8-12 people from Monday through Friday. She was struck by the fact that she had no budget, she didn’t have to do the shopping, and she had weekends off. She cited the opportunity as a huge honor, but unlike any other hospitality job she would ever have again—as her work generally include weekends, long hours and most definitely a budget!
In 1980 Anne returned to California and began working in restaurant management for the Charley Brown Steakhouse chain located at the San Francisco International Airport. Here she learned about systems and high-volume production. She travelled to various locations (there were 13 units in California) and taught servers about wine. After almost five years, she moved into managing food and beverage for the Clarion Hotel. She expanded her knowledge and enjoyed learning all aspects of the food and beverage side of a high-volume hotel.
With her solid foundation in the food service industry, Anne turned to teaching Italian cooking classes at the Santa Rosa Junior College in 1981. She continues teaching these classes today as an adjunct instructor in the culinary department and in 2006 she added wine and hospitality instruction to her curriculum and is now part of the agriculture faculty as well.
For over 20 years she has been associated with the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest competition of American wine in the world. She serves this competition as Assistant Director.
It was in her capacity as a judge for the Professional Food Competition at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair that she was offered the Judging Coordinator position that she still holds today –36 years later! “I was thrilled to get the position and still love it today as I get to taste all the food submissions, see the food trends, and meet great people –who I often ask to be judges for future competitions,” says Anne who clearly loves the job. She describes how olive oil grew to be such an important category; it now has its own competition at the fair. She also says the deli/charcuterie/pantry competition is growing the fastest and she has seen a huge improvement in the quality of shelf stable products over the years.
As with so many folks in the world of food and wine—Anne loves what she does. She works week-ends at Costeaux Bakery serving as concierge and judges various wine competitions. When she’s truly not working, she enjoys wine tasting and fishing in Lake Sonoma where, if she catches anything, she serves the fish up to unsuspecting dinner guests who invariably discover that she caught it herself!
The Professional Food Competition Results are in!
Introducing our 2023 Professional Food Judges
Appetizers
- Jim May, Chef, Santa Rosa
- Kathie King, Owner, Kathie King Catering
- Donna Parsons, Chef, Wilson Artisan Wineries
Bread
- Steve Hartz, Bakery Consultant, Guerneville
- Ron Misasi, Bakery Consultant, Santa Rosa
- John Vrattos, Bakery Consultant, Petaluma
Deli/Charcuterie & Pantry
- Tim Bodell, Executive Chef, Rustic, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Geyserville
- Jorge Flores, Chef, Costeaux Bakery
- Cass Nall, Catering Manager, Big John’s Market, Healdsburg
- Donna Parsons, Chef, Wilson Artisan Wineries
- Patti Robarts, Chef/Owner, Catered by Patti and Friends, Cloverdale
- Teri Rolleri, Director of DTC, Merriam Vineyards
- Joe Schneider, Culinary/Marketplace Director, V Sattui Winery
- Casey Stone, Sous Chef, River Vine Kitchen
Olive Oil
- Maria Farr, Carmichael
- Louis Gonzales, El Sobrante
- Julie Menge, Sacramento
Cakes & Pastries
- Desiree Blanc, Pastry Chef Vintner’s Resort
- Timothy Go, Food Tech, Galaxy Desserts
- Tracy Mattson, Owner, “Cookie…Take a Bite”, Santa Rosa
Desserts & Ice Cream
- Anthony Bonviso, Owner, Fiorello’s Gelato, San Rafael
- Cathy Burgett, Pastry Chef/Instructor, Santa Rosa Junior College
- Doug Cavaliere, Pastry Chef/Instructor, Santa Rosa Junior College
- Jean-Yves Charon, Co-Founder & Pastry Chef, Galaxy Desserts
- Steve Garner, Radio Host, Good Food Hour, Santa Rosa
- Bruce Johnstone, Pastry Chef, Insalata Restaurant, San Anselmo
- Shelly Kaldunski, Pastry Chef/Instructor, Santa Rosa Junior College
- Rhonda Lyon, Pastry Chef, Montage Resort, Healdsburg
- Karah Williams, Pastry Chef, Dry Creek Kitchen, Healdsburg
Past Professional Food Award Winners
The Sonoma County Harvest Fair Board has created Digital Medals that you can download and use to promote your award winners on your website and social media!
Click Below for a link to the Digital Medals.
Testimonials
“We have entered the Harvest Fair Professional Food Competition for several years now and are fortunate enough to display our Gold Medals and Best of Category Award s proudly in our restaurant.”
“The Harvest Fair has promoted the bounty of Sonoma County for decades. We are honored to participate in this annual event that recognizes the outstanding wines and specialty foods from our region, since our initial entry earning the only gold medal and Sweepstakes award for our classic sour deli roll in 1981.”
“I entered the Harvest Fair Professional Food Competition for the first time in 2014 and medaled with every one of my entries, even earning a double gold for my Lemon Cheesecake. It gave me the confidence I needed to take the next step and open my own restaurant!”