British authors win at Gourmand World Cookbook Awards

25 February 2013 by
British authors win at Gourmand World Cookbook Awards

British authors have won a string of awards at the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, which were held at the Paris Cookbook Fair over the weekend.

Madalene Bonvini-Hamel's book The British Larder: A Cookbook For All Seasons won the award for best book by a woman chef, with two-Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains' book Too Many Chiefs, Only One Indian winning best design.

Caterer and Hotelkeeper's monthly contributor Bonvini-Hamel's debut book is all about seasonal cookery offering detailed descriptions and photographs of her favourite ingredients, as well as tips and hints to assist cooks of all levels.

"I am delighted to have won this amazing award, and to receive it in the culinary capital Paris has even more of a prestigious feel. It was a great honour and a humbling experience to have had the privilege to have written and photograph this book, I loved every moment." Bonvini-Hamel told Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

Meanwhile Too Many Chiefs, Only One Indian is former Roux Scholar Bains' first book, which, published by Face Publications, contains contributions from some of the world's top chefs as well as 68 recipes and a behind-the-scenes account of how he runs his acclaimed Nottingham restaurant.

Commenting on the awards Bains said: "I'm blown away by this award. One of the reasons the book took so long to produce was because we focused on every aspect of it. We wanted it to resemble a tasting menu and make the reader feel a like he's on a journey with lots of different layers and textures throughout the book. It was a big risk but it paid off."

London-based restaurateurs Russell Norman and Yotam Ottolenghi also celebrated after Norman's Polpo - A Venetian Cookbook (of sorts) won the award for best Italian book and Ottolenghi's book Jerusalem picked up the gong for best Mediterranean cookbook.

Norman said he was delighted. "It was a surprise and an honour to win the Italian category - especially since I'm from Ealing and our chef Tom is from Guildford! I think it shows that Venetian cuisine really has been a hidden tradition for too long. We are now starting to embrace it," he said.

Restaurant consultant, writer and restaurant reviewer for the Financial Times, Nicholas Lander won the Professional Author prize for his book The Art of the Restaurateur.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals won the award for the book based on an English television programme, while Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang received the Culinary Travel book award for their book based on the BBC show Exploring China.

Finally Leemei Tam's Lemongrass and Ginger was named best cookery book based on a blog.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards saw 171 countries participating, with five books shortlisted for each category.

Bains added: "It's absolutely brilliant for the British chefs to have done so well in these awards. It's a proud moment for all of us."

British Larder book review >>

Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian book review >>

Polpo book review >>

Jerusalem book review >>

The Art of the Restaurateur book review >>

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