The 2011 Canadian Culinary Book Awards

The Date and Time: Monday, November 7, 2011  6:30PM to 10PM

The Event: The 2011 Canadian Culinary Book Awards

The Venue: Salon 103, Direct Energy Centre, just outside the Royal Winter Fair.

The Target Audience: publishers, cookery authors, media.

The Quote/Background: This was the 14^th annual presentation of the Canadian Culinary Book Awards. There were 82 books nominated in three categories for each of English and French (six categories in all).

The Wines: Niagara College Teaching Winery again provided the wines, one an unoaked Chardonnay 2010 ($15), the other a Merlot 2007 ($17). Both were more food-friendly than social wines.

The English-language Award goes to…Sarah Elton for "Locavore"; Jeff McCourt, Allan Williams and Austin Clement for "Flavours of Prince Edward Island"; and Michael Bonacini, Massimo Capra, and Jason Parsons for "3 Chefs" – all got Gold in their respective categories.

The Food: The reception for the authors was hosted by Niagara College winery, Aphrodite Cooks (goat cheese on kale pesto with roasted beet), George Brown College (many small desserts and cookies), Epic Restaurant (pork loin), Cambridge Mill Restaurant (elk stew), and Beretta Organic Farms (boeuf bourguignon).

The Downside: it got crowded really fast. This is the third year in a row that all the hot food mains were just at one end of the Café Soleil. I believe the floor tilted at one point. And this is the third year in a row that I have criticized the event on this detail. I was told that next year there were going to be changes, perhaps to a sit-down food and wine function.

The Upside: a chance to mingle with cookbook authors and publishers.

The Contact Person:  debby@mdgassociates.com

The Event's Marketing Effectiveness and Execution (numerical grade): 80.

Chimo!  www.deantudor.com AND http://gothicepicures.blogspot.com