Food, fashion and TV celebrities gathered on Thursday, January 13th at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to celebrate the 2nd Annual TASTY Awards.
Hosted by comedian Zane Lamprey, the show featured a distinguished line up of celebrity presenters including the Food Network's Brian Boitano Tanya Holland, Darryl Robinson, Manouschka Guerrier, and Aida Mollenkamp, E! Entertainment's Amy Paffrath, the Style Network's Jeannie Mai and Peter Ishkhans, food gurus Leslie Sbrocco and Bobby Bognar, TV fashionista Luciene Salomone, and Celebrity Chefs Hubert Keller, Nathan Lyon, Kevin Roberts, Candice Kumai and Fabio Viviani.
Among the evenings winners were television programs like Bravo's "Top Chef" for Best Food Program, Lamprey's HDNet series "Drinking Made Easy" for Best Drink or Beverage Program, "No Reservations" on Travel Channel for Best Food Travel Series, Food Network's, "The Great Food Truck Race" for Best New Series and Lifetime's "Project Runway" for Best Fashion or Design Program. PBS series' "Check Please, Bay Area" picked up two awards: Best City or Regional Program and Best Critic or Review Series.
Web winners, who also went home with Flip Video Cameras courtesy of Flip Video, included "Thirsty Girl TV" for Best Drink or Beverage Program, "Without Borders" for Best Food Travel Program, "Style.com" for Best Fashion or Design Video Podcast, PBS' "Avec Eric" for Best Food or Drink Podcast and "Chow.com" which won the Kikkoman Award for Best Food Program. Food & Wine magazine won for Best Newspaper or Magazine Program, and "Food Wishes" for Best Home Chef in a Series.
In the film category, Sony's "Eat, Pray, Love" picked up the award for Best Film or Documentary.
Individual awards went to Food Network's Alton Brown for Best Male Host in a Series and Best Chef in a Series, and Giada De Laurentiis for Best Female Host in a Series. A full list of winners can be seen on the site.
Food and wine for the event was provided by purveyors such as Supperclub, Starry Kitchen, Pure Dark chocolate, Mignon Chocolate, The Toffee Box, Punk Dog Wines, Salisbury Vineyards, Quady Winery, VAD Vodka, and Qure Water, along with contributions from sponsors like Kikkoman, Food Should Taste Good, RezVez, SummerJasmines, Ferrara Flames, Valcooks, Cooking.com, The Flip HD, and PR Newswire.
The TASTY Awards are the premier awards show celebrating the year's best in Food, Fashion, and Home Lifestyle programs on Television, in Film, and Online.
Said one attending national media outlet: "It was a fun night, with great people. The setting and enthusiasm of the people over-shadowed anything else. It reminded us a lot of the MTV Awards when it first started. You have fantastic momentum for next year. I look forward to next year!"
Upcoming TASTY Award Events include:
1. A Winners and Nominee Reception in SAN FRANCISCO in February
2. Appearances at the 5th Annual San Francisco International Chocolate Salon in April
3. A VIP TASTY Awards Evening in LAS VEGAS in Summer 2011 featuring various TASTY Awards Celebrity personalities.
4. Nominee submissions for 2012 begin in July 2011.
The TASTY Awards are for food, fashion, and home lifestyle programming what the Grammys are for music and the Oscars are for Film.