{"id":8110,"date":"2026-02-16T14:46:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/fresh-on-the-menu-launches-2026-peoples-choice-awards\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:46:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:46:39","slug":"fresh-on-the-menu-launches-2026-peoples-choice-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/fresh-on-the-menu-launches-2026-peoples-choice-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh on the Menu Launches 2026 People\u2019s Choice Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"123\" data-end=\"318\">Fresh on the Menu has launched its 2026 People&rsquo;s Choice Awards, inviting diners statewide to vote for their favorite restaurants that support South Carolina farmers by sourcing local ingredients.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"320\" data-end=\"533\">Fresh on the Menu is a sister program of <strong data-start=\"361\" data-end=\"402\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Certified South Carolina<\/span><\/span><\/strong> and recognizes restaurants that commit to sourcing at least 25 percent of their ingredients from Certified South Carolina members.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"535\" data-end=\"942\">&ldquo;The Fresh on the Menu People&rsquo;s Choice Awards are a way for diners to show appreciation for restaurants that make a real commitment to supporting local farmers and producers,&rdquo; said Grace Heins, program manager at the <strong data-start=\"752\" data-end=\"793\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">South Carolina Department of Agriculture<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. &ldquo;Every vote helps recognize restaurants that prioritize buying local and encourages more establishments to prioritize locally sourced ingredients.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"944\" data-end=\"964\">How Voting Works<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"966\" data-end=\"1245\">\n<li data-start=\"966\" data-end=\"1002\">\n<p data-start=\"968\" data-end=\"1002\">Diners may vote <strong data-start=\"984\" data-end=\"1000\">once per day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1003\" data-end=\"1140\">\n<p data-start=\"1005\" data-end=\"1080\">Votes can be cast for one restaurant in each of the state&rsquo;s four regions:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1083\" data-end=\"1140\">\n<li data-start=\"1083\" data-end=\"1097\">\n<p data-start=\"1085\" data-end=\"1097\">Lowcountry<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1100\" data-end=\"1112\">\n<p data-start=\"1102\" data-end=\"1112\">Midlands<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1115\" data-end=\"1126\">\n<p data-start=\"1117\" data-end=\"1126\">Pee Dee<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1129\" data-end=\"1140\">\n<p data-start=\"1131\" data-end=\"1140\">Upstate<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1141\" data-end=\"1198\">\n<p data-start=\"1143\" data-end=\"1198\">Voting opened February 2 and runs through February 22<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1199\" data-end=\"1245\">\n<p data-start=\"1201\" data-end=\"1245\">Regional winners will be announced March 2<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-start=\"1247\" data-end=\"1274\">Martin L. Eubanks Award<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1276\" data-end=\"1594\">In addition to the four regional People&rsquo;s Choice winners, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture will present the <strong data-start=\"1396\" data-end=\"1437\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Martin L. Eubanks Award<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, honoring one restaurant that demonstrates exceptional commitment to supporting South Carolina farmers and strengthening the state&rsquo;s agricultural community.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1596\" data-end=\"1742\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">To learn more about the 2026 Fresh on the Menu People&rsquo;s Choice Awards or to cast a vote, visit:<br data-start=\"1691\" data-end=\"1694\" \/><a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/freshonthemenu.com\/Peoples-Choice-Awards\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1694\" data-end=\"1741\">http:\/\/freshonthemenu.com\/Peoples-Choice-Awards<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fresh on the Menu has launched its 2026 People&rsquo;s Choice Awards, inviting diners statewide to vote for their favorite restaurants that support South Carolina farmers by sourcing local ingredients. Fresh on the Menu is a sister program of Certified South Carolina and recognizes restaurants that commit to sourcing at least<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/fresh-on-the-menu-launches-2026-peoples-choice-awards\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28],"tags":[70,366],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-8110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-awards","tag-food-and-drink"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Fresh-Vegies_2026_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}