Glamour, glitz and book awards
Which writers are winning which awards
Hello Lemonistas,
Welcome to your latest edition of The Lemon Grove, in which we take a look at awards season in the world of food and drink book publishing.
We've gathered together some of the more high-profile awards, including the Guild of Food Writers (shortlist, awarded in June) and Fortnum & Mason (awarded in May) to share with you which cook and food books are shifting off the shelves.
You might have heard of, or perhaps have, many of these books in your collection. Others will have passed you by in the busyness of life. So here’s a quick round-up of past and future awards and winners.
Best wishes
Bruce
Why are awards important? Well, there are many reasons, from informing readers about books they might have missed from the blizzard of publications produced each year to a guide to any trends affecting mass-market publications and counterculture books that slip under the radar of Instagram and Twitter.
Nominees may have entered themselves, or their publishers might have completed the forms and sent copies of the books to the judges. Established publishers produce most winners, but self-published books are slowly, and not before time, gaining critical approval.
Awards are also given out for online writing, broadcasting/ podcasting and even content creation. As yet, there is no award for AI-written books, although I'm sure it can't be long before such a category is brought to life. A word of warning: If you buy a book from one of the online retailers, be careful you don't end up with a mishmash of AI words, images, and bits shamelessly lifted from existing books.
The ones to look out and treat cautiously are tied to the latest trends, such as slow cookers (long used in kitchens but now with better engineering and safety features enjoying a new life) and air fryers, for example. Best to buy books' in real life' (or the links below via bookshop.org, of which I am an affiliate) - for air fryers, look out for Poppy Cooks (aka Poppy O'Toole), and for slow cookers, reach for Catherine Phipps.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!
For more info on cookbooks
Listen to Cooking The Books with Gilly Smith, a weekly podcast with authors of newly minted cookbooks.
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www.ckbk.com … a vast online resource of cookbooks.
www.eatyourbooks.com … a similar library of books for cooks.
'Small Fires' wins first Nach Waxman Award
Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore in NYC and the Waxman family have announced a shortlist of nominations for the inaugural Nach Waxman Prize for Food and Beverage Scholarship. Waxman, who founded Kitchen Arts & Letters in 1983, passed away suddenly in 2021.
The prize recognises a "US-published book which invites the general public to seriously consider issues in culinary and beverage history, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, geography, and other fields of study".
In the words of one of the judges, Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica and editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies: 'Small Fires upends the perception of cooking as a mindless activity, demonstrating instead that recipes can embody intellectual inquiry and even serve as a means of enlightenment. Rebecca May Johnson's luminous prose offers a profound meditation on the true meaning of kitchen work.'
For books published in 2023, the nominees for the award in alphabetical order by author were:
Fuchsia Dunlop - Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food
Diane Flynt - Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South
Rebecca May Johnson - Small Fires: An Epic in the Kitchen
Deborah L. Krohn - Staging the Table in Europe: 1500-1800
Sarah Lohman - Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods
Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards
The glitzy 12th annual Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards champion the achievements of the UK's current and emerging writers, publishers, photographers, broadcasters, content creators and personalities who encourage us to enjoy, experience and broaden our appreciation of food and drink through their work.
An independent panel of expert judges selects the shortlist and winners in 13 categories based on work published or broadcast in 2023. The winning authors, their book titles, and publishers are listed below.
FOOD BOOK
Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food by Fuchsia Dunlop
(Particular Books, Penguin Random House)
DEBUT FOOD BOOK
Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
(Cornerstone Press, Penguin Random House)
COOKERY BOOK
Gohan: Everyday Japanese Cooking: Memories and stories from my family's kitchen by Emiko Davies
(Smith Street Books)
DEBUT COOKERY BOOK
A New Way to Bake: Re-imagined Recipes for Plant-based Cakes, Bakes and Desserts by Philip Khoury
(Hardie Grant)
DRINK BOOK
Vines in a Cold Climate by Henry Jeffreys
(Allen & Unwin)
DEBUT DRINK BOOK
How to Drink Australian by Jane Lopes & Jonathan Ross
(Murdoch Books)
FOOD WRITER
Ajesh Patalay for work in the Financial Times
COOKERY WRITER
Melek Erdal for work in Vittles & The Guardian
DRINK WRITER
Tamlyn Currin for work in Jancis Robinson
RESTAURANT WRITER
Tim Hayward for work in the Financial Times
Photography and Broadcast Categories
PROGRAMME
Sophie Grigson: Slice of Italy Series Two
Presenter: Sophie Grigson; Series Director: Stuart Bateup; Executive Producer: Katie Lander.
(Finestripe Productions)
AUDIO
The Food Programme
Presenter: Sheila Dillon
Producer: Natalie Donovan; Audio Engineer: Suzy Robins; Editor: Dimitri Houtart
(BBC Radio 4)
PHOTOGRAPHER
Patricia Niven
FORTNUM'S SPECIAL AWARD
Rick Stein CBE
PERSONALITIES OF THE YEAR
Si King and Dave Myers
aka The Hairy Bikers
CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR
George Egg
aka The Snack Hacker
Guild of Food Writers
The Guild of Food Writers Awards recognise outstanding achievement in areas where food writers work and have influence. They are awarded annually and are the only awards judged entirely by professional food writers, editors and broadcasters. I have judged various categories in past years, but not this year. It's good to see new names on the list, including for the First Book and Newcomer categories. The awards will be handed out during a boisterous evening on June 12, and I'll report on the winners here in The Lemon Grove's Substack newsletter.
First Book Award
The Farm Table, by Julius Roberts.
Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul, by Su Scott.
Painting the Plate: 52 Recipes Inspired by Great Works of Art from Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo, and Many More, by Felicity Souter.
Food Magazine or Section
Feast, The Guardian.
Food by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Pellicle.
Food Podcast broadcast
FT Food Revolution, produced and presented by Tim Hayward and Daniel Garrahan for the Financial Times.
Bitter/Sweet, by Miller Libertine, presented by Natasha Miller.
Lush Life Podcast, presented by Susan L. Schwartz, produced by Evo Terra.
Food Writing
Xanthe Clay for work published in The Telegraph.`
Tim Hayward for work published in the Financial Times.
Rachel Roddy for work published in The Guardian.
General Cookbook
A Table Full of Love: Recipes to Comfort, Seduce, Celebrate & Everything Else in Between, by Skye McAlpine.
Winter Wellness: Nourishing Recipes to Keep you Healthy When it's Cold, by Rachel de Thample.
The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen, by Bee Wilson.
International or Regional Cookbook
Frontières: The Food of France’s Borderlands, by Alex Jackson
A Splash of Soy: Everyday Food from Asia, by Lara Lee
Brutto: A (Simple) Florentine Cookbook, by Russell Norman
Investigative Food Work Award
Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet into Shape, by Henry Dimbleby with Jemima Lewis.
Avocado Anxiety: And Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes by Louise Gray.
'How Do You Reduce A National Dish to a Powder?': The Weird, Secretive World Of Crisp Flavours, by Amelia Tait, published in The Guardian.
Newcomer Award
A Roman in Britain, by Emiliano Amore.
Say it with Flours, by Tat Effby.
Make Mine a Doubler, by Peter Gilchrist
Recipe Writing
Martha Collison for work published in Waitrose Weekend.
Melek Erdal for work published in Vittles and The Guardian.
Mark Hix for work published in The Telegraph Magazine.
Restaurant Writing
Grace Dent for work published in Feast, The Guardian.
Tim Hayward for work published in the Financial Times.
Jonathan Nunn for work published in Vittles.
Self-Published Writing Award
Mark Diacono for work published on Substack: Abundance by Mark Diacono.
Sam Lomas for work published through Mailchimp: Field Notes.
Mike Warner for work published on Scribehound, Substack and Squarespace: A Passion for Seafood
Specialist or Single Subject Cookbook Award
Honey: Recipes from a Beekeeper's Kitchen, by Amy Newsome.
Of Cabbages & Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food, by James Read.
Salt and the Art of Seasoning: from Curing to Charring and Baking to Brining, Techniques and Recipes to Help You Achieve Extraordinary Flavours, by James Strawbridge.
Drinks Book
Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Drinks, by Danny Childs.
Vines In A Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution, by Henry Jeffreys.
A Passion for Whisky: How the Tiny Scottish Island of Islay Creates Malts that Captivate the World, by Ian Wisniewski.
Drinks Writing
Molly Codyre: For work published in Foodism.
Joel Harrison: For work published in Club Oenologique Magazine.
Henry Jeffreys: For work published in The Critic Magazine
Moveable Feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals by Chris Newens
Jane Grigson Trust Award for New Food & Drink Writers
This award is given to authors whose books have yet to reach the bookshops.
'Moveable Feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals' gives Paris a whole new flavour profile, using food to present the city like never before. Structured around the author's quest to learn the recipe for a different representative dish of each of Paris's twenty arrondissements, the book exposes the epicurean interests of Paris's diverse subcultures, from Congolese exiles to fifth-generation Algerians, from the modern heirs of Hemingway to sex club-going libertines,” said the judges.
Moveable Feasts will be published by Profile in 2025.
The two runners-up were:
The Silk Roads Cookbook: Recipes from Baku to Beijing, by Anna Ansari (to be published by Dorling Kindersley in October 2025).
Sift: The Elements of Great Baking, by Nicola Lamb (published by Ebury Press, 2 May 2024 - now in bookshops).
And finally, a couple of award schemes
Andre Simon Awards
Entry forms for the 2024 awards are due out soon. Click here to keep in touch with the organiser. Click here for entrants to the 2023 awards.
Gourmand International
Run by Edouard Cointreau, these annual awards are among the most international and encompassing. Check out the nominees here for the 2024 food and drinks culture awards. The list of nominees is exhaustive, and they've even included a class headlined 'Best 25 Gourmand Award, for Silk Road Food Culture'. These special awards include books and magazines published up to a decade previously, which is a valuable reference. Click here for the list of 2023 winners.
The Lemon Grove's Substack newsletter
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BRUCE & THE LEMON GROVE'S EVENTS DIARY
Travel planning for 2024 is in the works for Seville, Menton, Turin (Slow Food’s Terra Madre), Liguria, and Barcelona, to name just a few!
Hosting & Cooking on the Demonstration Stage at:
Tonbridge Farmers Market (every second Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)
Next market in Tonbridge, Kent is on Sunday, June 9.
Aylesford Farmers Market (every third Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)
Next market in Aylesford, Kent is on Sunday, May 19.
Tonbridge Food Festival, Saturday, May 25 and Sunday May 26, 11am - 6pm.
I’ll be on stage throughout the two days, interviewing chefs and stallholders and cooking up a storm with local Kent ingredients. I'll share recipe ideas using food from the farmers market and interview many great local growers and producers who make wine, bread, jams, marmalade, and much more. Follow Tonbridge Farmers Market for updates.
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the little ❤️ below ⬇️.
Bruce McMichael
Writer, Podcaster, Event Host & Cook, Lemonista
CHECK Email: hello@thelemongrove.net
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