The Guild of Fine Food will be holding the 38^th annual World Cheese Awards, hosted by the Instituto del Queso as part of the Andalucía-Gusto del Sur International Cheese Festival 2026 in Córdoba Spain.

The awards, which are widely recognised as the biggest and most influential cheese-only competition in the world, will take place in the Exhibition, Trade Fair and Convention Centre (CEFC), in Córdoba on 12 and 13 of November.

There are over 5,000 cheeses from 45 countries already registered to be judged in the one-day event, which will involve two rounds of judging over the course of the day. The first round sees the 270 judges work in teams of two or three, identifying cheeses worthy of a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Super Gold award. Then, in the afternoon the Super Gold cheeses are re-assessed by a Super Jury made up of 14 of the most distinguished cheese experts, to find the World Champion Cheese.

Each year, the judging panel is carefully selected from some of the most accomplished cheese professionals in the world to ensure that there is a balance of nationality, age, gender, discipline and areas of expertise.

They assess the look, feel, smell and taste of each entry, scoring aspects such as the appearance of the rind and paste, as well as the cheese’s aroma, body, and texture, with the majority of points awarded for flavour and mouthfeel. 

To ensure a completely fair competition, the entire judging process is ‘blind’; all packaging, identifying logos and markings are removed, the judges are given a brief description, but no indication of origin or producer.

To ensure further parity, all the cheeses enter through one of over 20 consolidated shipping points spread across the world, to ensure they arrive at the judging arena in the best possible condition.

Chef Ed Lam of Peacock has once again won gold at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party Winnipeg (CGKP), the regional qualifier for the Canadian Culinary Championship.

It’s another big win for the chef in 2026 after Peacock landed on the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list after being open for a few months. He’ll be joined by another chef on that list, chef Emily Butcher of Nola and Bar Accanto, at the Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa in January as they form what should be a formidable Team Winnipeg in this new format that marks the 20th anniversary of the competition.   Chef Butcher was last night’s chef of distinction, serving on the judging panel after having won last year and in 2019, along with placing third at the Canadian Culinary Championship in 2020. The national competition has been won only once by a Winnipeg chef, when Makoto Ono took the inaugural crown in 2009.

Lam’s trio of dry aged duck had plenty of visual pop. There was a fun little sphere of cabbage (a choi farci) containing the diced leg meat along with garlic scape, jicama and fermented olives, all sitting atop a delightful pea puree that had been punched up with hoisin. The breast was marinated Peking-style before being roasted, with the skin rendered to a gorgeous caramel colour, while underneath a silky, translucent duck jus created harmony across the plate. The star of this show was a foie gras torchon featuring a base of nori nougatine (a sweet crisp, if you will) wearing a citrus hat on top. Were this component a canapé at a party, you wouldn’t be able to stop popping them.

Lam, who previously won the competition in 2022, paired the dish with Tawse Estate’s Limestone Park Riesling, a rather robust sparkling with the sort of acidity and crisp apple-y flavour that flattered the richness of the duck.  

In second place – and only 9 points behind Lam, which is rather remarkable given seven judges scoring plates out of 100 – is a dish that I’d like to nominate as Manitoba’s new provincial plate. It was by chef Luc Jean of WOW Hospitality, who previously won this competition in 2014. He served a Manitoba maple-braised bison neck, a cut chef Jean said he was put onto after asking Indigenous elders what the best section of bison is.  

The braise itself was everything you could ask for, with the tender bison meat having absorbed all the liquid. It was encased in a thin band of cabbage, while this parcel and the velvety sauce was held in a circle by a smoked parsnip puree that was the most luscious component of the night (I may have moaned). Beside it, reduced and pickled cranberry drew a line between a porcini flan topped with crunchy bits of prairie grains. Chef Jean paired the dish with an assertive Cab Franc (the Grower’s Blend) also by Tawse, whose warm spices gelled with all the bold flavours on offer.   

Chef Jean’s dish also took home the People’s Choice Award.  

In third, Darnell Banman, the executive chef at Thermea, wowed us all with his presentation of local chicken on a dish he called Humble Beginnings. There was crispy chicken skin set atop a mousseline that formed a triangle with a luxurious gougère filled with miso egg yolk cream that was covered in mircoplaned black Italian truffle in one corner, with a roasted and glazed local cipollini onion in the other. The sauce was a buttery carrot jus infused with chicken glaze.  

Chef Banman paired the dish with our favourite wine of the night, the 2023 Clossen Chase Hillier pinot noir that lent the whole experience a pleasant earthiness.  

Two-time silver medalist, chef Graham Peltier of The Oakwood presented the best-looking Scotch egg you’ve seen. It was surrounded by a smoked hollandaise, creamed greens, and delightful little jellied chunks of fermented red plum. The egg itself – which comes from Ogilvy Family Farms, who is the sole supplier of eggs to the Oakwood – had a jammy yolk and was wrapped in lamb spiced by sumac and Sugar Rush Peach Pepper, which has a very unique flavour. It was sensibly paired with a lively sparkling wine by Henry of Pelham which reset your palate between each rich forkful.  

Chef Jessica Young, who had previously won bronze in 2024, served a prairie banh mi. Instead of liver pâté, chef used langue (beef tongue) that had been delicately braised before being shaved thin and draped over toasted brioche. Accompanying it were crunchy bits of green tomato, pickled kohlrabi and sesame, while a sesame aioli and begonia vinaigrette dressed it all up. For a pairing, chef Young used local Low Life Barrel House’s 2024 Pearl, a blend of Petite Pearl and Chambourcin grapes. 

The event took place at the RBC Convention Centre, with 300 in attendance and many local suppliers and companies on display including Chocolate Zen Bakery, Jones and Co Wines, Trans Canada Brewery, CAPS Manitoba, Unique Brazilian Dairy and HealthySips. MusiCounts and Spirit North –– which provides access to music education, sport opportunities and healthy food to students –– are the two national charities with local impact that CGKP supports, while local funds were also raised directly for Harvest Manitoba.    

The judging panel consisted of AV Kitching, culinary writer at the Winnipeg Free Press; author Christine Hanlon; Christa Guenther, owner of Feast Café Bistro; last year’s winning chef, Emily Butcher; chef Jesse Friesen, a two-time Winnipeg champion; Bartley Kives, award-winning senior reporter at CBC Manitoba; and myself. Judges’ scorecards are based on taste, presentation, texture, technique, beverage pairing and wow factor.   

Canada’s Great Kitchen Party is held in 10 cities, with the winners going on to compete at the Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa from Jan 29 to 30.

Vancouver, B.C., October 8, 2026 – Mount Pleasant’s Published on Main (3593 Main Street), which recently retained its one Michelin star for five years running, welcomes fall with the launch of its new seasonal tasting menu, Harvest. Available now until January 5, 2027, the menu is a celebration of the changing season, highlighting the kitchen’s favourite autumn ingredients through a curated snack selection, followed by a series of composed plates that capture the rhythm of autumn. Seasonal ingredients include: pumpkin, sunchoke, wild mushrooms, quince, rosehip, sea buckthorn, and Douglas fir.

Guests can make a reservation for Published on Main’s Harvest Tasting Menu ($170++ per person) online. The experience lasts approximately two and a half to three hours. The 12-course tasting menu, created by chef-partner Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson together with chef de cuisine Nolan Hennenfent, begins with Markklößchen Suppe Bitte, a German-style bone marrow dumpling soup in rich beef shank broth with parsley oil, followed by Published’s signature Snack Attack.

“Fall is all about the harvest, when the orchards are ready to be picked, the forests are full of mushrooms, and when farms are sending us squash, sunchokes and sweet root vegetables,” says Stieffenhofer-Brandson. “With our Harvest Tasting Menu, we wanted to capture this feeling of abundance and the comfort of gathering around the table. Like all of our menus, it will keep evolving as ingredients come and go.”

Course highlights include Butternut, a butternut squash chawanmushi with spot prawn and bee pollen, and Bison, served raw with salal mostarda, meadowsweet-marinated beets and horseradish. Wild Mushrooms, which many have been hand-foraged by Stieffenhofer-Brandson, brings the forest to the table with chanterelle, matsutake and lobster mushrooms, herbed boudin blanc ravioli, Douglas fir oil and an aromatic mushroom bouillon.

Seafood and protein features include Scallop with brown butter swede, Slow Cooked Salmon with seaweed butter sauce and fermented potato flatbread, and Fraser Valley Duck with rosehip “ketchup,” braised red cabbage and elderberry jus. Black Apple, a shallot tart with black apple purée and Norwegian brown cheese, leads into desserts, including the Sunchoke Dilly, a roasted sunchoke parfait in a barley malt chocolate shell with birch crème, and Pumpkin with sea buckthorn curd. The meal closes with mignardises, including Pine Nut Halva with a grand fir blondie and a porcini fudge made with Manjari chocolate.

For Harvest, Published is sourcing many of its ingredients from local farms, foragers and producers such as North Arm Farm and Vive Le Veg.

“Alongside our Harvest Tasting Menu, we’ve also introduced new à la carte dishes for fall. Whether it’s the full tasting menu or a drink and a dish or two at the bar, there’s a few different ways to experience Published this season,” adds Stieffenhofer-Brandson.

Guests have the chance to complement their tasting menu with beverage pairings (from $95 for non-alcoholic pairings to $155 for a full beverage experience), curated by wine director Haley MacLeod and bar director Joe Casson, featuring wines, sake, cider, beers, cocktails, and non-alcoholic creations.

Published on Main is open seven days a week, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations are available online for both its à la carte menu and tasting menu at www.publishedonmain.com. Select seats are reserved for walk-ins each day.

TORONTO, Oct. 8, 2026 /CNW/ -- Stacked, the breakfast and lunch chain with more than 170 restaurants across Canada, launched its first national brand campaign Thursday with a 60-second film narrated by one of its booths. The campaign asks Canadians to make more time for meals together.

The campaign, "Life Happens Around the Table," lands four days before Thanksgiving, a holiday built around a shared meal. The rest of the year looks different. According to an Angus Reid study, 65% of Canadians wish their family ate together more. Stacked's new campaign is an invitation to change that, offering an everyday space for families to slow down and reconnect.

The film is built around the people who fill Stacked restaurants every week. The camera never leaves one booth. Over 60 seconds, the booth watches four groups come and go, each one a routine, tradition or occasion that keeps guests coming back: friends at their weekly Sunday brunch, a retired couple who have taken the same seats every Tuesday for years, a youth soccer team celebrating a win, and a family singing "Happy Birthday" over a candle in a stack of pancakes. Stacked says each scene is one its servers see every week.

Toronto agency King Street Media wrote and produced the film, shooting it in a single day with a cast of nearly 50 people. The campaign runs on YouTube, including on TV screens, and on Instagram and Facebook through Dec. 14, with 30-, 15- and 6-second versions.

"A lot of families will sit down together this weekend for Thanksgiving, then go back to eating in the car on Tuesday," said Danica Brett, the Vice President of Marketing at Stacked. "We think the table deserves more than one weekend a year. That's what a breakfast restaurant is for. We want to bring Canadians back around the table."

Stacked restaurants are open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. A full list of locations is available at stacked.ca.

As Canada's fastest-growing breakfast chain, Stacked has opened more than 70 restaurants in the past two years.

Locations and menus are at stacked.ca.