The Observer Food Awards (OFM) has opened for voting. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes wonder how they come by their winners. Fodder in Harrogate won food retailer of the year, fair enough, but runner up for the best restaurant in the north of England was Café No 8 in York. A perfectly honourable, very sweet little restaurant, but second best in the north of England? Surely not. I’m not the only one to think so. Comments on the OFM website following last years awards questioned just how the voting and judging really worked. OFM editor Allan Jenkins sort of explained that ‘most of the awards – Best restaurants, Cheap Eats, Ethical etc. are voted for by readers while the judges vote for Best Producer, Young Chef, Outstanding Achievement, Newcomer etc.’ So there you have it. If you want a favourite Yorkshire restaurant to win then it is worth voting. And if you’ve got enough mates you can tilt the voting your way. For more details go to the website www.observer.co.uk/foodawards. The deadline for entries is Friday 24 June 2011.