Julian Armstrong, an author and award-winning food journalist at the Montreal Gazette, and the Montreal Star before that, has been inducted into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame.
Her two cookbooks — A Taste of Quebec (1990, updated in 2001) and Made in Quebec: A Culinary Journey” (2014) — explain and celebrate her adopted province’s cuisine, which she has explored for more than 50 years.
Taste Canada presented awards in six categories in English and French and recognized two writers with Hall of Fame honours on Monday.
James Barber, who died in 2007, was the other inductee. The Vancouver engineer, who started food writing in his late 40s, wrote 12 cookbooks and became best known as “The Urban Peasant,” the name of his cooking show, which ran on CBC from 1991 to 2002.
Judges picked the winners from 150 submissions, 96 books and 54 food blogs.
Two books about gluten-free food won gold and silver medals Monday in a new category created by the Taste Canada Awards.
In the Health and Special Diet Cookbooks category in English, Meghan Telpner won gold for The UnDiet Cookbook: 130 Gluten-Free Recipes for a Healthy and Awesome Life, while Mary Jo Eustace took the silver for Scared Wheatless: Delicious Gluten-Free Recipes That Won’t Make You Lose Your Mind.
Taste Canada Awards have been honouring Canada’s culinary writers for 19 years.
——
Here are this year’s winners:
ENGLISH
Culinary narratives
Gold — “Sir John’s Table: The Culinary Life and Times of Canada’s First Prime Minister” by Lindy Mechefske (Goose Lane Editions)
Silver — “Chicken in the Mango Tree: Food and Life in a Thai-Khmer Village” by Jeffrey Alford (Douglas & McIntyre)
General cookbooks
Gold — “Canadian Living: The Ultimate Cookbook” by Canadian Living Test Kitchen (Les Editions de l’Homme)
Silver — “Seven Spoons: My Favorite Recipes for Any and Every Day” by Tara O’Brady (Appetite by Random House)
Regional/cultural cookbooks
Gold — “A Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World” by Susan Musgrave (Whitecap Books)
Silver — “A Spicy Touch: Family Favourites from Noorbanu Nimji’s Kitchen” by Noorbanu Nimji and Karen Anderson (A Spicy Touch Publishing (Canada) Inc.)
Single-subject cookbooks
Gold — “The Ocean Wise Cookbook 2: More Seafood Recipes That Are Good for the Planet” by Jane Mundy (Whitecap Books)
Silver — “A Field Guide to Canadian Cocktails” by Victoria Walsh and Scott McCallum (Appetite by Random House)
Health and special diet cookbooks
Gold — “The UnDiet Cookbook: 130 Gluten-Free Recipes for a Healthy and Awesome Life” by Meghan Telpner (Appetite by Random House)
Silver — “Scared Wheatless: Delicious Gluten-Free Recipes That Won’t Make You Lose Your Mind” by Mary Jo Eustace (Whitecap Books)
Food blog
Gold — “In Pursuit of More” (www.inpursuitofmore.com) by Shira McDermott
FRENCH
Les narrations culinaires
Gold — “L’essential de Chartier” by Francois Chartier (Les Editions de Presse)
Silver — “L’Epicerie: Le plaisir de faire les bons choix” by Sylvie Do (Les Editions Caractere)
Livres de cuisine generale
Gold — “C’est l’hiver!” by Josee Robitaille (Les editions de la Carotte blanche)
Silver — “Cuisiner pour une semaine, un mois, un an” by Coup de Pouce and Claudine St-Germain (Les Editions de l’Homme)
Livres de cuisine regionale et culturelle
Gold — “La cuisine d’Helena: 80 recettes portugaises pour ensoleiller votre table” by Helena Loureiro (Les Editions de l’Homme)
Silver — “Fine cuisine italienne des Abruzzes” by Maria Di Domenico (Les Editions Glenat Quebec)
Livres de cuisine sujet unique
Gold — “La cuisine reflechie: Bien manger sans gaspiller” by Daniel Vezina (Les Editions La Presse)
Silver — “Mon premier livre de recettes” by Ricardo Larrivee (Les Editions La Presse)
Santé et diète particulières
Gold — “Nutrition Sportive: 21 jours de menus” by Stephanie Cote and Philippe Grand (Modus Vivendi)
Silver — “Naturellement sucre: 100 desserts a base de sucres naturels” by Eliane Michaud (Guy Saint-Jean Editeur)
Blogue culinaire
Gold — “The Green Life” (thegreenlife.ca) by Sophie Bourdon
