TORONTO — As part of the Taste Canada Awards Virtual Ceremony on Nov. 14, 2021, 19 gold and silver award winners were revealed, as well as the Cooks the Books winning teams and the newest inductees into the Culinary Hall of Fame.
The 2021 Taste Canada Award Winners for English-language books include:
Culinary Narratives: Gold
- The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook by Suzanne Evans, Between the Lines, Toronto
Culinary Narratives: Silver
- Flat Out Delicious: Your Definitive Guide to Saskatchewan’s Food Artisans by Jenn Sharp, TouchWood Editions, Victoria
General Cookbooks presented by Egg Farmers of Canada: Gold
- Flavourbomb: A Rogue Guide to Making Everything Taste Better by Bob Blumer, Appetite by Random House, Vancouver
General Cookbooks presented by Egg Farmers of Canada: Silver
- Hawksworth: The Cookbook by David Hawksworth, Jacob Richler and Stéphanie Nöel, Appetite by Random House Vancouver
Regional/Cultural Cookbooks: Gold
- Kiin: Recipes and Stories from Northern Thailand by Nuit Regular, Penguin Canada, Toronto
Regional/Cultural Cookbooks: Silver
- Eating Out Loud: Bold Middle Eastern Flavours for All Day, Every Day by Eden Grinshpan, Penguin Canada, Toronto
Single-Subject Cookbooks: Gold
- Baking Day with Anna Olson: Recipes to Bake Together by Anna Olson, Appetite by Random House, Vancouver
Single-Subject Cookbooks: Silver
- The Hunter Chef Cookbook: Hunt, Fish and Forage in Over 100 Recipes by Michael Hunter, Penguin Canada, Toronto
Health and Special Diet Cookbooks: Gold
- Eat Good Fat: Nourish Your Body with Over 100 Healthy, Fat-Fuelled Recipes by Lee Capatina, Penguin Canada, Toronto
Health and Special Diet Cookbooks: Silver
- Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals to Keep You Glowing by Angela Liddon, Penguin Canada, Toronto
Furthermore, the 2021 Cook the Books gold medal winners, presented by Canola Eat Well, include William Besner and Jean-François Perron from École des métiers de la restauration et du tourisme de Montréal (EMTRM) for their dish, pâté chinois (shepherd’s pie). The silver medal was awarded to Thi Quynh Mai Dong and Tamara Travner from Fleming College for their dish, duet of duck with spiced grape gastrique and a foie gras & morel mushroom bread pudding. The gold medalists will receive a $3,000 bursary from Taste Canada to support their culinary education.
Lastly, the Culinary Historians of Canada inducted Canadian food icons Noorbanu Nimji and Bonnie Stern into the 2021 Hall of Fame. Nimji wrote four cookbooks, collectively entitled A Spicy Touch. Her final volume, co-written with Karen Anderson, was subtitled Family Favourites from Noorbanu’s Kitchen and won a Silver Taste Canada Award. Nimji died in 2020. Bonnie Stern, on the other hand, published 12 cookbooks, including Friday Night Dinners, Heart Smart, Bonnie Stern’s Essentials of Home Cooking and more. Stern also opened her own cooking school, wrote a newspaper column and hosted three national television cooking shows.
