Winners of the Gourmand Cookbook Awards, 2013

The 2013 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were announced yesterday at the Paris Cookbook Fair, and here are some of the winners that look interesting. I have stuck mostly to English, although some of the books in Spanish and French look good too. Other English-language writers and publishers won several awards, but my list includes books readily available to readers here in the USA.

These books are not yet published in U.S., but some are available from The Book Depository in the UK, with free shipping worldwide.

• The British Larder by Madelene Bonvini-Hamel. (Best by a Woman Chef.) UK.
  
• The Best of Chef Wan: A Taste of Malaysia by Chef Wan. (Best Book, Authors and Chefs: TV-English).
  
• POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts) by Russell Norman. (World Cuisine-Italian). UK.
  
• Saba: The Cookbook by Paul Cadden and Taweesak Trakoolwattana. (World Cuisine-Asian). A collection of Thai/Vietnamese recipes, Ireland.
  
• Exploring China. A Culinary Adventure: 100 Recipes from Our Journey by Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang. (Best of Culinary Travel.) UK. Published by BBC Books. Published a couple of weeks ago in the UK, but currently unavailable at The Book Depository. I did find an episode of their BBC tv series online and do not really expect anyone to sit here and watch it for an hour but I am including it to view later myself. Attached at end.
  
• Bread Revolution: Rise Up and Bake by Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan. (Placed 3rd in Bread). UK.
  

Available here in U.S. now:

• The Cookbook Library by Anne Willan with Mark Cherniavsky and Kyri Clafin. (The Gourmand Cookbook Hall of Fame.)
  
• Lemongrass and Ginger Cookbook by Leemei Tan (Authors and Chefs: Best Cookbook by a Blogger), UK.
  
• Eat Raw, Eat Well: 400 Raw, Vegan and Gluten-Free Recipes by Douglas McNish. (Best Vegetarian), Canada.
  
• The 4-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss. (Best First Cookbook) USA.
  
• Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican, Chinese by Ken Alba. (World Cuisine-Foreign). USA.
  
• Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. (Tied for first with a Spanish cookbook for World Cuisine-Mediterranean). UK.
  
• The New Ukrainian Cookbook by Annette Ogrodnik Corona and Laurette Kovary (Placed 3rd in World Cuisine-Eastern Europe category.) USA.
  
• The Hakka Cookbook by Linda Lau Anusasananan. Foreword by Martin Yan. (World Cuisine-China. Tie for #1). USA. Anusasananann was a food writer and editor at Sunset Magazine, which bodes well. Sunset is always a dependable source for recipes.
  
• Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuschia Dunlop (World Cuisine-China, 3rd place). UK. Published in US this month.
  
• The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey by Laila el-Haddad & Maggie Schmitt. Foreword by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. (Best of World Cuisine-Arab). Also recommended by Marion Nestle at her blog Food Politics. The Gaza Kitchen website says they will be posting videos soon. The Nancy Harmon Jenkins association with this book would be enough to draw my attention. Her Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is one of my longtime favorites.
  
• Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America by Maricel E. Presilla, USA. (Placed third in World Cuisine-Latin America.)
  

The Avec Eric tv show from WFWF (World Food & Wine TV Festival) won TV Producer award for Geoffrey Drummond. Eric Ripert is chef of the New York restaurant Le Bernardin, and the one episode of show I watched showed him in Tuscany hunting wild boar and back in his New York kitchen preparing pork loin. It does look like a well-produced program. I enjoyed it and have started reading his recipes online. Episodes available free on hulu.

A Gueter: 70 Recettes d’Alsace by André Muller. (Best Authors and Chefs, TV-Europe). France. Some videos, in French, are available on YouTube. The French from this region, with its deep Germanic affiliations, sounds with such a heavy accent that the video had French subtitles. After reading about Alsace in Waverly Root’s The Food of France, I want to watch a few of these shows eventually.

Cannot find: The Microsoft Cookbook, (Winner in Printing.) China. Also a 3-way tie for first in Charity Fundraising- North America. It is pretty darned strange that a charity cookbook has, as far as I can find, zero footprint on the web.

See a slide show of all finalists and winners of the 2013 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. And now The Old Man would probably like to see some of those blueberry scones I've been promising. Inspired to cook and cook.

 

Comments

[Ajarndtbooks.blogspot.com]

This is a terrific post. I heard about the Jerusalem cookbook on NPR which described the book as part travelogue and part memoir as well. I haven't gotten a chance to take a peek at it yet, though. Still intrigued.

[Fay]

Angela, we are having another Ottolenghi dish tonight, along with some fish--spinach pancakes with lime butter. Cannot get enough of this great food.