Cuisine Canada Scene

(GUELPH, On) Can you judge a book by the cover? The expert panel for Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph’s Canadian Culinary Book Awards wouldn’t dream of it. To select the best of more than 50 entries, some of Canada’s top food professionals cracked the spine, rolled up their sleeves, tested recipes and read every word. The winners will be announced November 6, 2009, on opening day of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, in Toronto. This year’s finalists illustrate the range and expertise of Canadian food writers.

Short-listed in the English Cookbook Category are:

• The Complete Canadian Living Baking Book: The Essentials of Home Baking by Elizabeth Baird (Transcontinental Books, Montreal)
• Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan (McClelland & Stewart Ltd., Toronto)
• Small Plates for Sharing, Laurie Stempfle, Ed. (Company’s Coming Publishing Limited, Edmonton).

Short-listed in the English Special Interest Category, books about food, but not cookbooks, are:

• Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Random House Canada, Toronto)
• Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, Toronto).

Three books were short-listed for the Canadian Food Culture Category, books that best illustrate Canada’s rich culinary heritage and food culture:

• Anita Stewart’s Canada by Anita Stewart (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, Toronto)
• Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb (Penguin Group Canada, Toronto)
• A Taste of Canada: A Culinary Journey by Rose Murray (Whitecap Books Ltd., North Vancouver).

The contest is also open to Canadian French-language books. Short-listed in the French Cookbook Category are:

• Gibier à poil et à plume: découper, apprêter et cuisiner par Jean-Paul Grappe (Les Éditions de l’Homme, Montréal)
• Ricardo : parce qu’on a tous de la visite: cuisiner en toutes circonstances par Ricardo (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal)
• Les secrets des sauces révélés par Jérôme Ferrer (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal).

Short-listed the French Special Interest Category, books about food but not cookbooks are:

• • Manger, Un jeu d’enfant par Guylaine Guèvremont and Marie-Claude Lortie (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal)
• Répertoire des fromages du Québec, Édition augmentée by Richard Bizier and Roch Nadeau (Les Éditions du Trécarré-Groupe Librex inc., Montréal)
• Les vins du nouveau monde, Volume 2, by Jacques Orhon, (Les Éditions de l’Homme, Montréal).

In the French Canadian Food Culture Category is:

• Québec capitale gastronomique by Anne L Desjardins (Les Éditions La Presse, Montréal).

For more than 140 years, the University of Guelph has contributed to Canadian cuisine in its programs in agriculture, food science, hospitality and tourism management and is the home of one of Canada’s best cookbook collections.

The Canadian Culinary Book awards are sponsored by: Agricultural Adaptation Council, CanolaInfo, Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Harbinger Communications, Chicken Farmers of Canada, Parmalat Canada, The Ancaster Old Mill, Beef Information Centre, Niagara College Teaching Winery, The Fairmont Royal York, Niagara College, Borealis Grille & Bar, George Brown College, Georgian College, Liaison College, Rootham Gourmet Preserves, Stratford Chefs School and Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association.

For more information about the awards visit the Canadian Culinary Book Awards page on the University of Guelph website.