The Taste Canada Awards annually celebrate the year’s best in Canadian food writing. Gold and silver medal winners were awarded across five English-language and five French-language categories at an awards ceremony in Toronto.
The ceremony was hosted by Ali Hassan, comedian and host of CBC Radio’s Laugh Out Loud and frequent guest host of The Next Chapter. He has also hosted CBC Books’ Canada Reads since 2017.
The winners are chosen by a team of judges across the country, Christine Couvelier, the national chair of the board of directors of Taste Canada told CBC Books.
“We all look on the Internet for recipes, but to have a book in your hand, and to hold a book in your hand and look at the pictures and read the stories that these authors have shared with us, is a part of our history,” she said.
“It’s a way that the next generation of culinary professionals learn our past of cooking and take us into the future.”
Writer and filmmaker Cheuk Kwan won the gold prize for culinary narratives for his book Have You Eaten Yet?
The travelogue tells stories of Chinese restaurants worldwide and explores the global Chinese migration and how Chinese immigrants grapple with assimilation, cultural identity and economic survival.
“For me, it was a kind of very natural thing to do because I came from the same background of having lived in many countries, having gone through crossing boundaries, what I call cultural boundaries, religious boundaries, linguistic boundaries, when every time I move,” said Kwan in an interview with CBC Books.
The Current23:22Writer Cheuk Kwan on what Chinese restaurants tell us about the country’s global diaspora
Featured VideoWriter and documentary filmmaker Cheuk Kwan has sought out Chinese restaurants in places like Cuba, Turkey and Outlook, Sask. He tells us what he learned about migration, identity and community from the travels documented in his new book, Have You Eaten Yet?: Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World.
Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. He co-founded The Asianadian, a magazine dedicated to promoting Asian Canadian arts, culture and politics, and a film production company, Tissa Films. He is currently based in Toronto.
The complete list of English-language winners is as follows:
Culinary narratives:
General cookbooks:
- Gold: Make Every Dish Delicious: Modern Classics and Essential Tips for Total Kitchen Confidence by Lesley Chesterman
- Silver: The Lemon Apron Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes for the Curious Home Cook by Jennifer Emilson
Regional/cultural cookbooks:
- Gold: Where the River Narrows: Classic French & Nostalgic Québécois Recipes From St. Lawrence Restaurant by J-C Poirier with Joie Alvaro Kent
- Silver: New Indian Basics: 100 Traditional and Modern Recipes from Arvinda’s Family Kitchen by Preena Chauhan & Arvinda Chauhan
Single-subject cookbooks:
- Gold: The Miracle of Salt: Recipes and Techniques to Preserve, Ferment, and Transform Your Food by Naomi Duguid
- Silver: The Artful Pie Project: A Sweet and Savoury Book of Recipes by Denise Marchessault & Deb Garlick
Health or special diet cookbooks:
- Gold: Good for Your Gut: A Plant-based Digestive Health Guide and Nourishing Recipes for Living Well by Desiree Nielsen, RD
- Silver: The Two Spoons Cookbook: More Than 100 French-Inspired Vegan Recipes by Hannah Sunderani