Monday evening was a terrific celebration of Canadian food, wine and writing at Taste Canada―The Food Writing Awards. According to Quill & Quire, the magazine for the Canadian publishing industry, the competition drew 73 book submissions this year, “a brilliant snapshot of the vibrancy and diversity of Canadian culinary publishing.”
Karen Gelbart, National Chair of Taste Canada, commenetd, “The selection and diversity of the publishing and the cuisine in this country are breathtaking. Our judges were in the unique position of spending time with each of these books — reading the narratives and studying the presentation — to finally decide the winners in this year’s Taste Canada Awards.”
I felt fortunate being among the nominees, especially since Unquenchable was the only booze book (clearly someone on the committee had been drinking when they threw it on the shortlist slush pile). It was a thrill to win the Culinary Narrative category … and I couldn’t have done it without the brilliant team at Doubleday/Random House. (Here’s a second post about the evening.)
Taste Canada Food Writing Awards Gala was held at the Arcadian Court, Queen Street yesterday. This ceremony honours food writers in four categories and this year’s winners were:
Regional/Cultural Cookbooks: Food Network Chef David Rocco
Made in Italy
General Cookbooks: Food Network Chef Michael Smith
Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen: 100 of My Favourite Easy Recipes
Single Subject Cookbooks: CBC TV It’s Just Food Host Julie van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan
Spilling the Beans: Cooking and Baking with Beans and Grains Every Day
Culinary Narrative: Natalie MacLean
Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines
Quill & Quire: “Last night’s newly re-branded Taste Canada – The Food Writing Awards was a spirited affair. Held at the Arcadian Court in Toronto, the awards celebrate the country’s best English- and French-language food books. After the ceremony, delicious culinary delights were offered upstairs at the Arcadian Lofts.”
Happy! That’s the marvelous Christine Cushing to my left who was MC for the evening. She’s hosted lots of terrific cooking shows on television and has authored many fine cookbooks.
Judges’ Verdicts:
“She puts a human face on wine.”
“You can read this book simply for the engaging characters, stories and writing flare.”
“It is very user friendly in terms of consulting her recommendations for particular wines.”
