TORONTO — For the 27th consecutive year, Taste Canada has announced the winners of Canada’s only national, bilingual food writing awards.
This year, 73 submitted cookbooks competed for a culinary writing award across five categories in both French and English. The shortlist was announced in June and narrowed the competition down to 44 entries, featuring authors from seven provinces.
The 19 gold and silver award winners, spread across five categories in each official language, were revealed at the Fairmont Royal York last week during the Taste Canada Awards Soirée, hosted by chef Devan Rajkumar. The full list of winners can be viewed here.
The winners of the Taste Canada Cooks the Books student cooking competition, presented by Canada Beef, and the Taste Canada Hall of Fame, presented by the Culinary Historians of Canada, were also named.
After 16 students representing seven different Canadian culinary schools battled it out in the Kitchen Arena at Cirillo’s Academy in Toronto, it all came down to two winning teams. Negus King and Francine Adriosula from George Brown College won gold for their dish, Smoked Beef Tongue meets Filipino and Bajan Fusion. The duo received a $3,000 educational bursary, a Super Q Blender from Breville Canada and the Cooks the Books trophy to display at their school.
Jillian Sampson and Hailey Whitford from NAIT won silver for their dish, Ribeye Cap Roulade with Autumn Vegetables and Potato-Parsnip Tart. The duo won a nine-cup food processor from Breville Canada.
Additionally, the first inductee into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame is the late Habeeb Salloum (1924 to 2019), a Syrian-born Arab-Canadian who became a leading expert on Arab cuisine in Canada. The second inductee is Barbara Barnes, a home economist and culinary writer who managed the ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen for 33 years, writing practical, budget-friendly cookbooks.
