Taste Canada Book Awards Gala Nov 4/13

2. The Date and Time: Monday, November 4, 2013  6:00PM – 10PM

The Event: Taste Canada; the food writing awards 2013

The Venue: Arcadian Court

The Target Audience: food writers, media, publishers

The Quote/Background: The Food Writing Awards drew 64 submissions, for eight categories (four in each of French and English). The Gala Reception was hosted by CBC's Stefano Faita. Other awards were for Taste Canada/CBC People's Choice Book Award (Vegetarian's Complete Quinoa Cookbook) and the new Hall of Fame inductees (Elizabeth Baird, Mere Emelie Caron, and Helen Gougeon), plus awards for student food competition winners.

 

The Book Winners: for the English language,

 

--BEST Culinary Narrative – French Kids Eat Everything (And Yours Can Too), by Karen Le Billon (Harper Collins).

 

--BEST General Cookbook – Canada's Favourite Recipes, by Rose Murray and Elizabeth Baird (Whitecap Books).

 

--BEST Regional/Cultural Cookbook – Burma: Rivers of Flavor, by Naomi Duguid (Random House Canada).

 

--BEST Single Subject Cookbook – The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood; 80+ recipes, by Sharon Hanna

 

The Alcohol Beverages: there were beers from Alexander Keith's (but no cider)—India Pale Ale, Cascade Hop (Washington) Ale, and Hallertauer Hop (Bavaria) Ale. The Niagara Teaching College Winery sent along their Unoaked Chardonnay 2011 (4 stars) and their Merlot 2009 (3 stars).

The Food: There were nine stations of food for us to sample afterwards:

 

-Chef Joshua Dyer (EPIC, Fairmont Royal York): Ontario elk tenderloin bresola, chevre, quince, marrow and balsamic.

-Chef Matt Dean Pettit (Rock Lobster)- for the second year in a row he left early when cleaned out of Nova Scotia lobster rolls, butter poached vanilla lobster spoons, and lobster deviled eggs (poached with beet juice)

-Chef Brad Lomanto (Cambridge Mill Restaurant): cardoon ravioli, tongue bacon, celery.

-Chefs Michael Robertson and Jamie Meireles (Oliver & Bonacini): maple and chili smoked Pacific salmon, preserved peach and squash pickle, sage crème fraiche, and grilled bannock.

-Chef Vanessa Yeung (Aphrodite Cooks): pork pot stickers, carrot and daikon radish slaw.

-Chef Tawfik Shehata (Toronto International Centre): Willow Grove Hill pork milk braised, Alberta barley cake pan-fried, jalapeno, chick pear flour, eggs – my overall fave!!

-Chef Wanda Beaver (Wanda's Pie in the Sky): sour cherry tarts, meyer lemon tarts, pecan squares.

-Chef Dufflet Rosenberg (Dufflet Pastries): caramel dacquoise of hazelnut meringue and white chocolate, cappuccino dacquoise, and hazelnut dacquoise.

 

The Downside: I had previously killed my tasting palate in the afternoon at the ICE show.

The Upside: it was terrific congratulating all the winners!

The Contact Person: debby@mdgassociates.com

The Event's Marketing Effectiveness and Execution (numerical grade): 94.

Chimo!  www.deantudor.com