Indian cookbooks strike it rich at Gourmand Awards

Cookbooks from India bagged several prizes at this year's Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, with Sonal Ved's Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes winning in three categories.

The 24th edition of the awards was recently hosted in Macao. Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India's Regional Cuisine was named the Best Indian Cookbook. Globally, the second best Book of the Year in all categories, and the third in Best Design - Asia.

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Nandita Haksar's The Flavours of Nationalism: Recipes for Love, Hate and Friendship won in two categories - cookbook for peace and food writing. Two books by Kiranmayi Bhushi also won awards - Farm to Fingers (sustainable food) and Culture & Politics of Food in Contemporary India (food security & nutrition). HarperCollins was named food book publisher of the year. The Goa Portuguesa Cookbook by Deepa Soha's Awchat won in the Woman Chef' category, Diary of a Domestic Diva by Shilpa Shetty Kundra in Celebrity Chef', Reishu Sharma's From India with Love First Book; award and Spices & Rhapsodies & Foot Tapping Chefs by Viji Varadarajan in the digital book for sale category.

Elated over the win, Ved said, "From fashion, art, architecture to food - the world is increasingly putting an emphasis on regionality, diversity and the immigrant voice. So, Tiffin' was bound to get noticed on this global platform".

Among the other winners are Recipes on Ripples by Soju Philip (Asian region), Padma Vijay's 101 Dishes that Enhance Mood & Reduce Stress (Diet), The Flavour of Spice by Marryam Reshii (Spices and herbs), Chutneys, Adding Spice to your Life! by Aparna Mudiganti Parinam (single subject), Nandita Iyer's The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian (Vegetarian) and Masala Mamas by Elana Sztokman (Fundraising).

Kapil Kapoor, director at Roli Books, publisher of Tiffin, remarked, "This award is unique because it focuses only on the culinary world. The fact that Tiffin' was ranked second in the 'Best Book of the Year' in all categories is truly remarkable".

Founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, the awards recognize excellence in food writing across print, digital and television. The objectives of the awards are honouring those who cook with words; giving an overview of world food and drink culture in all its rich diversity and trends; finding reliable quality sources for the public, professionals and the media; helping promote the best authors and publishers; and helping authors and publishers in copyright foreign rights trade.

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