My book won a Taste Canada Award!

Where We Ate takes Gold in the Culinary Narratives cagetory

Okay, so there is no burying the lead here – I won a Taste Canada Award!! My book, Where We Ate, won Gold in the Culinary Narratives category on Monday night at the awards ceremony at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Needless to say, I am still walking on air three days later.

The first time I attended the Taste Canada Awards was way back in 2015, as a “Special Blogger Correspondent” (meaning I got a free ticket in exchange for posting on social media about the red carpet and the awards). 

That night, I was in awe as I snapped pictures of famed bloggers like Brunette Baker and Canadian chef royalty like Vikram Vij (who hosted the awards that year). There was so much excitement and love for Canadian food writing in that room, I’ll never forget it. The speeches, the food, and the wine were all a celebration of Canadian culinary books, and I remember thinking just how cool it was. 

Fast-forward nine years – and A LOT of work –  I was finally there as a nominee after attending the Taste Canada awards first as a blogger, then as a judge. And what a night it was. 

I got to attend a special reception at the Random House offices with fellow nominees and editors, drink delicious Niagara wine, and hang out with my awesome editor Zoe Maslow and one of her other writers, Mary Berg!

The Taste Canada Awards are an awards program run by a non-profit organization devoted to celebrating and showcasing Canadian cookbooks and food books, run mostly by volunteers. if you’ve never heard of it, it’s the Canadian equivalent of the James Beard Awards. In the Canadian food world, it’s a big deal! 

My book, Where We Ate, won the Gold prize in the Culinary Narratives category, which is described as “The award is given to the best food- or beverage-related narrative written by a Canadian author (or authors) that is not primarily a recipe book. This category may include books exploring culinary history, politics, social awareness, memoir or biography, all relating to food, and may include some representative recipes.”

You can watch my acceptance speech here:

Thank you to my editor Zoe who has become a wonderful friend – we have the best time together! Another thank you to my friends and family who have supported my author journey right from the beginning when I was just blogging on The Food Girl in Town. 

And to Adam, who has always been my biggest supporter, my copyeditor and my partner in love and life. Cheers!

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If you don’t already own a copy of Where We Ate, you can buy it anywhere books are sold. And if you do own one already, thank you!