The Taste Canada Awards (not affiliated with TasteToronto), are "a champion of Canadian cookbooks, Taste Canada inspires readers to discover delicious recipes and diverse food stories written from a Canadian perspective."
Canada's cookbook scene is super underrated but incredibly high quality; with one of the world's most diverse populations living here, its really unsurprising that we're also home to some of the most dazzling recipes. Since 1998 Taste Canada has been awarding Canadian cookbook and food writers with accolades; volunteer Canadian culinary experts are appointed to the jury, and the winners are chosen both from the French Canadian and English Canadian culinary world.
The awards gala in 2022 was held at The Royal York. 87 cookbooks were submitted but only 17 awarded silver and gold recognitions. Keep yourself on the lookout for cookbooks published this year in the Canadian food publishing market. Some of them might be in the next round of Taste Canada awards!
The following cookbooks placed gold in the English language division.
Best Culinary Narrative
Bread & Water: Essays by dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Bread and Water uses lyrical prose to describe those two fundamental ingredients, and to probe the essential questions on how to live a life. Hobsbawn-Smith uses food to explore the hungers of the human soul: wilder hungers that loiter beyond cravings for love. She kneads ideas of floods and place, grief and loss; the commonalities of refugees and Canadians through common tastes in food; cooking methods, grandmothers and mentors; the politics of local and sustainable food; parenting; male privilege in the restaurant world; and the challenges of aging gracefully.
Best General Cookbook
Well Seasoned: A Year’s Worth of Delicious Recipes by Mary Berg
Beloved home cook, television star, and bestselling author Mary Berg is back with 100 seasonal recipes to inspire your year and delight your palate.
For Mary, cooking meals to enjoy with family is a constant source of joy, no matter the day or time of year. But as for what those meals include? Well, that's what makes it fun. As the seasons change, so does the food Mary craves and cooks. Sometimes it's based on what's available at the farmers' market, other times it's based on the weather or how she feels on a particular day. Well Seasoned is a cookbook to celebrate friends and family, giving readers a peek into how Mary cooks over the course of a year.
Best Regional/Cultural Cookbook
Eat, Habibi, Eat! Fresh Recipes for Modern Egyptian Cooking by Shahir Massoud
In Arabic, habibi translates to my darling, and it is this loving endearment, reserved for the closest friends and family, that permeates every recipe that Canadian-Egyptian chef and television host Shahir Massoud has to offer.
Sharing mouthwatering street foods and casual everyday staples, as well as new interpretations of traditional dishes, Eat, Habibi, Eat! encourages you to explore the rich spices and irresistible dishes of the Middle East at home. And Shahir's personal stories, all told in his warm and playful voice, are just as captivating as his food (you'll burst out laughing at his mother's insistence that the Egyptian people would never forgive him if he altered the definitive recipe for ful mudammas).
Best Single-Subject Cookbook
Jam Bake: Inspired Recipes for Creating and Baking with Preserves by Camilla Wynne
A one-of-a-kind preserving and baking book packed full of delicious jams and the indulgent dessert that best showcase them, from pastry chef and Master Preserver Camilla Wynne.
What can I do with this jam besides put it on toast? Master Preserver and pastry chef Camilla Wynne is constantly asked this question when teaching her popular preserving classes. Enter Jam Bake a one-of-a-kind cookbook full of her jam, marmalade, fruit butter, and jelly concoctions, along with recipes for what to do with them beyond toast.
Best Health or Special Diet Cookbook
The Food Doula Cookbook: A Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and a Nourished New Mom by Lindsay Taylor
The Food Doula Cookbook eliminates the guesswork of what to eat during pregnancy, empowering moms-to-be to be nourished, energized, and confident — from conception through the three trimesters to postpartum. Author Lindsay Taylor’s positive attitude of no rules and no guilt, balanced with her focus on nutritious real-food choices, permeates the book. In addition to 90-plus easy-to-follow recipes for delicious, nourishing meals best suited for each trimester and postpartum recovery, Lindsay also offers helpful advice on how to build a prenatal pantry, make the best food choices, and engage in effective meal planning and prepping, leaving the expectant mom time to relax and enjoy her pregnancy.
To view the full list of winners which includes cookbooks that placed silver and the French Canadian cookbook list, please visit the Taste Canada website.
