Small Foods 2015: The Tenth Anniversary

Baltimore's best and only celebration of the delicious world of petite edibles, the annual Small Foods party and contest, is Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 8pm! If you are bringing a small food, we recommend you come at 7:30pm as tables can fill up quickly. Please bring your Small Foods offering with plenty to share and BYOB. If you bring a small food with enough to share, you will be given entry preference and a discounted entry fee of $2. If you are not creating an edible entry this year, your entrance fee will be $10.00 at the door. We will limit the number of folks entering without food so that we can stay within our capacity limits. All proceeds will go to The Whole Gallery for the generous use of their space, our band, Cigarbox Planetarium (http://cigarboxplanetarium.bandcamp.com/), and to supporting the cost of this, and future Small Foods events. New this year: PRIZES for each category winner and for the grand prize winner! Prizes provided by generous donation from Golden West, Red Emmas, Thread Coffee, The Charmery, Blue Pit BBQ, The Brewer's Art, and Lost City Diner. Also, Naomi Miller - tiny food artist extraordinaire, will be there with her wearable art (naomillerart.com/soft-sculpture/) Event Logistics and Tips for Success: Small Foods will take place at The Whole Gallery (H&H Building, 405 West Franklin St. 3rd Floor) This year's Small Foods event will be hosted by Nova Robinson, last year's grand prize winner and recipient of the coveted GIANT CAN Of mini-corn. 1. We encourage contest participants to arrive at 7:30 in order to get set up and give the judges a chance to try your entry. This is especially encouraged if you have a complicated setup, as table space goes fast! 2. The contestants are narrowed down to three standouts per category by an esteemed judging panel comprised of the Small Foods event organizers, who are also winners from previous years. 3. Winners in each category, as well as the Grand Prize winner, will be chosen via crowd applause, so please make as many of your Small Food as possible! The more people get to try your entry, the more people will want you to win! 4. Judging will begin promptly at 9:00. Absolutely no entries will be accepted after this point! Make sure to arrive early enough for folks to get a taste! 5. Make sure each of the judges tries your entry! You will know us when you see us! Also please place one perfect version of your entry upon the judge’s table for display when you arrive. 6. Also, keep in mind that, after being chosen by the judges as top contestants in a category, winners are ultimately chosen by audience applause. That means that the more portions of your tiny food you make, the more audience support you could garner. We typically have around 200 attendees each year, so think big (and small)! 7. Please bring everything you will need to display and share your Small Food. We will provide the toothpicks and the napkins... 8. We can't guarantee access to electricity as the space has limited outlets, so be creative in your approach to assembly/warming of your entry. Just to get you all revved up for the competition and give you something to shoot for, here is a list of the trophy-winning SmallFoods prize categories. The winner of each challenge will receive a special trophy for their efforts. THE GOLDEN TOOTHPICK: The smallest food, in proportion to the much larger version. Think of a larger food “object”, and make it small! Past winners of this coveted prize include perfectly formed mini wontons, itty-bitty party subs, and teeny- tiny decorated cupcakes that would fit on the tip of a finger! THE BRIGHT IDEA AWARD: This is given to the creator of the most creative Small Food. Utilizing the most thoughtfully considered presentation, this little food offering will be the pinnacle of cleverness, wit, and style. Past winners have wowed us with elaborate edible dioramas or have accompanied their Small Food offerings with captivating stories and interactive performance art. Think outside of the (lunch, bento) box! THE YUMMO! AWARD: Tiny and delicious, this food will rock all of our taste buds, leaving us wanting more! Past winners have pleased our pallets with items such as itty-bitty banana splits and minutely crafted traditional Caesar salads on fried parmesan… Oh Mamma… Though shalt not compromise taste for smallness! THE BLUE PLATE SPECIAL: This is indeed one special challenge, one that is waiting for just the right dedicated Small Foods contender to be fully realized. We will all know it when we see it folks, the perfect presentation of a full meal in miniature… THE JUDGES' AWARD: We get to pick the winner of this category. Sometimes an entry is so outstanding in its concept or execution, that we can't help but recognize the creator. THE GRAND PRIZE: The winner of this esteemed prize is the Small Foods entry that has captured the hearts, minds, and stomachs of the people. It is often a food item that stands out in two or more categories, a super-small food that excites our sensibilities and our palettes. The winner of this crowd-pleasing entry will take home the GIANT CAN OF mini-corn, and will be given the opportunity to host next year’s Small Foods extravaganza!!!