The annual Taste Canada Food Writing Awards Gala was held at the Arcadian Court, Queen Street yesterday.  This ceremony honours food writers in four categories, in both our official languages (in other words, four categories in English and the same again, in French): Culinary Narratives, General Cookbooks, Cultural/Regional Cookbooks and Single Subject Cookbooks.  The event opened with addresses from the event’s hosts, Karen Gelbart and Michael Bonacini, followed by the ceremony itself.

 Natalie MacLean accepts her award

This year’s winners:

• Culinary narratives (French): Jean-Marie Francoeur for Genèse de la cuisine québécoise: A travers ses grandes et ses petites histories
• Culinary narratives (English): Natalie MacLean for Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines

• Regional/Cultural Cookbooks (French): Vincent Beck et Dien Ngoc Phan for Asie: Un voyage culinaire
• Regional/Cultural Cookbooks (English): David Rocco for Made in Italy

• Single Subject Cookbooks (French): Coup de Pouce for Nos 200 meilleurs desserts et biscuits
• Single Subject Cookbooks (English): Julie van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan for Spilling the Beans: Cooking and Baking with Beans and Grains Every Day

• General Cookbooks (French): Josée di Stasio for À la di Stasio 3: Recettes de Josée di Stasio
• General Cookbooks (English): Michael Smith for Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen: 100 of My Favourite Easy Recipes

It was interesting to note that many of the winners were unable to attend and instead, accepted their awards via a prerecorded message. In addition to the above awards, the Hall of Fame Awards were presented.  First, three culinary writers, all women, were posthumously inducted into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame.  These women, whose works ranged from pre-Confederation Canada to turn of the last century Quebec to the Mad Men era and later.  The inductees were:

Catharine Par Traill (1802-1899), left: An immigrant to Canada from England who wrote a cookbook called The Female Emigrant’s Guide, and Hints on Canadian Housekeeping.  The book explained to new Canadians when and how to plant fruits and vegetables, how they tasted raw and cooked as well as preservation methods and local customs.  Essentially, it was a guide on how to be Canadian.

Jeanne Anctil (1875-1926), centre: Ms. Anctil was the principal of Écoles-Ménagères Provinciales, the first non-religious cooking school for Francophones in Montreal.  Her book, 350 recettes de cuisine included French Canadian favourites as well as non-Quebecois dishes adapted for the local palette.

Margo Oliver (1923-2010), right: She was Canada’s “Betty Crocker” and was the food editor Weekend Magazine, later known as Today, between 1959 and 1982.  Ms. Oliver actually worked at the Betty Crocker Kitchens in Minneapolis before coming home when General Mills expanded north of the border.  Not only were her columns in Weekend Magazine/Today very popular, but she was also the author of several cookbooks including Most Treasured Recipes (1977) and Good for One (1990).

Anita Stewart speaks to the audience

The announcement of posthumous inductees was followed by the announcement of this year’s Hall of Fame Winner, Anita Stewart.  Ms. Stewart, dubbed “The Wonder Woman of Canadian Cuisine” by the National Post, is a radio commentator for radio programs such as CBC’s “Fresh Air” and is also the Senior Editor of International Taste & Travel.  Other notable accomplishments include being one of the founders of Cuisine Canada and Food Day Canada and is the President of Flavours of Canada.  She was recently made a member of the Order of Canada for her achievements in the culinary industry among other things.

Emma House and Heather Mitchell accept their award

The final award was to the next generation of chefs.  The winner of the third Taste Canada Cooks the Books competition was also announced.  This is a competition held at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair where culinary students create dishes with cookbook authors acting a mentors.  The dishes are created live in front of an audience and then judged by a panel of culinary experts that include Elizabeth Baird, a former food editor at Canadian Living and Ted Reader, a chef and BBQ cookbook author.  This year’s winning team was made up of Emma House, Samantha Mitchell and Dan Lipton from Stratford Chefs School.  The award consisted of not only a trophy with the name of the winners and their school, but each winner received a KitchenAid mixer in the colour of his or her choice as well as a set of chef’s knives.

Angus Ribeye and Quail’s Egg

Sweet Potato and Roast Corn Chowder

Apple, Ginger and Turkey pot stickers

As this is a culinary-related awards event, it is definitely not without food.  Prior to the awards ceremony, attendees were treated to a wine and cheese, with wines from the Niagara College Teaching Winery and Ivanhoe Cheese from Gay Lea.  After the ceremony, delicious culinary delights were offered upstairs at the Arcadian Lofts.  Attendees had the chance to try dishes from the event’s sponsors such as apple ginger turkey pot stickers by Aphrodite Cooks’ Vanessa Yeung as well as an amazing carved Angus beef ribeye and fried quail’s egg from Chefs Jamie Meireles and Michael Robertson, both of O&B Events.  Another favourite was the sweet potato and roast corn chowder, which came with smoked ham hock and cilantro crema from Amira Becarevic of EPIC at the Royal York Hotel.  Something interesting to note: Many of the chefs prepared beef-based dishes!  There could have been a bit more variety in terms of meat, and perhaps something vegetarian.

Besides the savoury goods, there was also a dessert table filled with an array of sweets, ranging from baked goods to custards to chocolate.  Favourites included the maple sandwich cookie (above) as well as macarons from George Brown College’s Pastry Arts class.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!