Canadian Culinary Book Award Winners 2009

At noon today, Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph announced the winners of the Canadian Culinary Book Awards 2009 to a crowded room at the Royal Winter Fair in an atmosphere charged with a certain frisson of excitement brought about by the presence in another part of the building of Prince Charles and Camilla, who had spent the morning touring the fair and were just departing as the event began.

Apart from all other considerations, it was a nice moment of recognition for a number of strong women who have pursued careers in food research and writing since a time when – as veteran journalist Judy Creighton remarked upon accepting a Founder's Award – neither women nor home cooking were accorded much respect, when the "women's sections" of newspapers were full of wedding announcements and news from church socials, and when the "domestic sciences" were not spoken of in the same breath as the work of "real" chefs.

Anglophone and Francophone emcees Jurgen Gothe and Micheline Mongrain-Dontigny led off by announcing the recipient of the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Culinary Hall of Fame Culinary Landmarks distinction. It went to Elizabeth Driver (pictured with Powers), for her thirty-year labour in producing the exhaustive Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks, 1825-1949 (University of Toronto Press, Toronto).

Clearly moved, Driver declared that the newly-created award will allow Canadians to continue her work, in a sense, as they choose to recognize those publications that truly document this country's food and cooking every year. The other awards were as follows:

English-Language Culinary Books
Canadian Food Culture Category

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

Cookbook Category

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

Special Interest Food and Beverage Book Category

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

French-Language Culinary Books
Canadian Food Culture Category

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

Cookbook Category

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

Special Interest Food & Beverage Books

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

Special Awards

• Canadian Culinary Hall of Fame Culinary Landmarks: A Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks, 1825-1949 by Elizabeth Driver (University of Toronto Press, Toronto).
• Founders Award (lifetime achievement): Judy Creighton, food writer, Canadian Press
• The Edna Award (lifetime achievement, regional): Chef Robert Arniel, St. John's, Newfoundland