Taste Canada awards span country: PEI’s Michael Smith, Tofino’s Lisa Ahier win

TORONTO – Culinary personality Michael Smith won a Taste Canada food writing award Monday for his eighth cookbook, “Family Meals” (Penguin Canada).

The P.E.I. chef’s 2014 book featuring 100 recipes was the winner in the general cookbooks category.

From the other side of the country, Vancouver Island chef Lisa Ahier and Andrew Morrison won for “The SoBo Cookbook: Recipes from the Tofino Restaurant at the End of the Canadian Road” (Appetite by Random House) in the regional/cultural category.

“La recolte” by Bernard Dube (Bernard Dube) won in the same category for French language books.

Mary-Ann Kirkby was recognized in the culinary narratives category for “Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen: Unveiling the Rituals, Traditions and Food of the Hutterite Culture” (Penguin), and “Duchess Bake Shop” by Giselle Courteau (Duchess Bake Shop, Edmonton) was the winner in the single-subject cookbooks category.

Other French-language winners were “Ainsi cuisinaient les belles-sœurs dans l’œuvre de Michel Tremblay: Une traversee de notre patrimoine culinaire 1913-1963” by Anne Fortin (Flammarion Quebec) for culinary narrative, and Christelle Tanielian’s “Ensemble: Cuisine gourmande et coloree” (Les Editions La Presse) in the general cookbooks category.

“Soupes-repas gourmandes” by Anne-Louise Desjardins (Guy Saint-Jean Editeur) won in the single-subject category.

In recognition of food writers who publish online, Taste Canada handed out a new award this year to honour the best Canadian-authored independent food-related blog post.

Allison Day’s “Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Hazelnut, Orange and Saffron” (Yummy Beet) won in English, while Christelle Tanielian was the recipient for the French blog post “Pizza 3 minutes: saucisses italiennes, épinards, tomates cerises, cœurs d’artichauts et mozzarella” (Christelle Is Flabbergasting).

Winners were determined after reviewing 69 books and 27 blog entries.

This year’s Hall of Fame Awards were handed out to Rose Murray, who has written more than 10 books on Canadian cuisine, “Canadian Cook Book” author Nellie Lyle Pattinson (1873-1953), and Ryerson teachers Helen Wattie (1911-2009) and Elinor Donaldson Whyte, who updated Pattinson’s 1923 text.

The winners were announced at a reception in Toronto, hosted by Ricardo Larrivee and Vikram Vij, both of whom are previous Taste Canada winners.

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