The Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards were established by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) in 2008. The new awards were developed to enhance the longstanding Royal Melbourne Dairy Produce Awards which were organised in the lead in to the Royal Melbourne Show.
The inaugural Awards featured dairy, with the introduction of new categories, confectionary and extra virgin olive oil. In subsequent years the Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards has undergone substantial expansion with the introduction of new categories in branded beef, coffee, preserves and delicatessen goods and the reorganisation of existing categories with a focus on fine foods.
The RASV is committed to ensuring its competitions are industry-relevant and continue to evolve. As a result the Awards will now be bi-annual and spilt into an Autumn and Spring program in order to better represent the seasonality of produce from both small and large producers.
The Autumn program was introduced in February 2013. It included Bread and Baked Goods, Pantry Goods, Packaging and the first Cider competition to be held in Victoria. The categories were developed in close consultation with industry including chefs, food writers and expert judges.