Cookbooks by Kim Thúy, Joe Beef chefs to represent Canada at 'best in the world' food writing competition
Kim Thúy's Secrets From My Vietnamese Kitchen and the Joe Beef cookbook Surviving the Apocalypse are among dozens of Canadian winners of the 2020 Gourmand Awards. They will go on to compete in a 'best in the world' tournament against cookbooks from other countries.
The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards annually celebrate the year's best in food writing and cover a vast range of genres, from French to Jewish cooking to books by celebrity chefs.
The winners of the national competitions were announced this month and the overall 'best in the world' winners will be announced in the New Year.
Thúy is a Montreal-based award-winning novelist and short story writer. Born in Vietnam, she and her family were among thousands who fled the country on boat after the fall of Saigon.
She tells the story of her mother and aunts through the recipes they've shared in Secrets From My Vietnamese Kitchen. The book won the Asian published outside Asia category.
Surviving the Apocalypse was written by Frédéric Morin and David McMillan, chefs of Montreal's Joe Beef restaurant, and their co-writer Meredith Erickson.
The book collects 150 recipes designed for the end of times, including canned bread, deer beer belly and pickled pork butt. Surviving the Apocalypse won the Chef Book category.
Chef Shane M. Chartrand and his co-writer Jennifer Cockrall-King are among the Canadian winners for tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine.
Chartrand, born to Cree parents and raised by a Métis father and Mi'kmaw-Irish mother, has spent his career exploring the diverse cuisine and stories of Indigenous peoples across Canada, culminating in this collection of over 75 recipes. tawâw won the Innovative category.
Ann Hui won for her nonfiction book Chop Suey Nation, in which the Globe and Mail writer takes a tour of Canada's ubiquitous small town Chinese restaurants.
Coming from Vancouver, where a cornucopia of authentic Chinese cuisine thrives, Hui discovers a wholly unique brand of Canadian Chinese dishes in the country's small towns. Chop Suey Nation won the Chinese category.
Ottawa chef Joe Thottungal's debut Coconut Lagoon is another Canadian winner. The book collects 80 recipes for home cooks, featuring authentic southern Indian dishes like mango pickle, dosa and malabar parathas. Coconut Lagoon won the First Cookbook category.
Other Canadian titles include Jeremy Charles's Wildness, a book dedicated to recipes from Newfoundland and Labrador, Edmonton baker Giselle Courteau's Duchess at Home and cousins Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer's new book Fraiche Food, Full Hearts.
More than 50 Canadian titles were recognized at this year's awards. To find out about all of them, visit the Gourmand Awards website.