The Event: Taste Canada Book Awards and Gala Fundraiser

The Date and Time: Monday, October 20, 2014   6:30 PM to 10PM

The Event: Taste Canada Book Awards and Gala Fundraiser

The Venue: Arcadian Court

The Target Audience: publishers and authors, food writers

The Availability/Catalogue: There are four categories for both English and French language books, with 58 submissions this year. The English language winners were:

 

-Culinary Narratives Award went to "The Stop: how the fight for good food transformed a community and inspired a movement" (Random House Canada), by Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis.

 

-General Cookbooks Award went to "The Flavour Principle: enticing your senses with food and drink" (HarperCollins), by Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol.

 

-Regional/Cultural Cookbooks Award went to "Toronto Star Cookbook: more than 150 diverse and delicious recipes celebrating Ontario" (Appetite by Random House), by Jennifer Bain.

 

-Single-Subject Cookbooks Award went to "Gastro Grilling: fired up recipes to grill everyday meals" (Penguin Canada Books), by Ted Reader.

 

The Quote/Background: Ricardo announced which of the shortlisted cookbooks authors captured gold. In addition to honouring cookbooks both past and present, Taste Canada also awarded the winners of their student cooking competition, Taste Canada Cooks the Books, and honoured The Cookbook Store. After the ceremony, we sampled delicious dishes at a reception hosted by Gusto TV and Toronto chefs and restaurants. This was a unique opportunity to meet authors, mingle with industry leaders, and with fellow food writers.

 

The Wines (Chardonnay and Merlot) were donated by Niagara College Teaching Winery, the beer by Samuel Adams Boston Lager.  At the reception, breads were donated by Fred's Bread and cheese by Cheese Boutique.

 

The Gala Reception had great food prepared by the following chefs –

 

-Chef Joshua Dyer (EPIC, Fairmont Royal York Hotel) did a house-cured duck prosciutto with foie gras and blue cheese; this was my FAVE of the evening.

-Chef Matt Dean Pettit (Rock Lobster) did a lobster chowder and an oyster "lobsterfeller";

-Chef Brad Lomanto (Cambridge Mill Restaurant, Landmark Group) did a soiled reputation beet, micro kale, goat cheese, and amaretti crumb salad;

-Chef Michael Robertson & Chef Jamie Meireles (Oliver & Bonacini) did maple espelette smoked Ontario pork shoulder on grilled bannock;

-Chef Vanessa Yeung (Aphrodite Cooks) did a beef brisket slider on Chinese baked buns with Nappa claw and chili aoili;

-Chef Tawfik Shehata (Toronto International Centre) did a barley tagliatelle with a fennel sausage ragu;

-Chef Dufflet Rosenberg (Dufflet Pastries) did cranberry shortbread cookies and chocolate raspberry buttercream squares.

The Contact Person: saskia@cravepr.com

The Event's Marketing Effectiveness and Execution (numerical grade): 89.

 

Chimo! www.deantudor.com