2021 Taste Canada Virtual Awards Ceremony

In 2021, 73 cookbooks entered the competition from authors across Canada. In June, the shortlist was announced, narrowing the competition to a maximum of five entries per category. 

On November 14, 2021, the Gold and Silver award winners were revealed during the Taste Canada Awards Virtual Ceremony, which streamed on the Taste Canada Facebook page. The awards ceremony was hosted by chef Shahir Massoud and cookbook author Ariane Paré-Le Gal.

Congratulations to all the winning authors! Taste Canada is proud to support and celebrate the work of culinary writers across Canada.

We also inducted two well-deserving Canadian food personalities into the 2021 Taste Canada Hall of Fame, presented by the Culinary Historians of Canada. The first 2021 inductee is the late Noorbanu Nimji, a celebrated cookbook author who passed away in 2020. The second inductee is Bonnie Stern, a Canadian culinary icon and cookbook writer. 

Due to Covid-19 travel and gathering restrictions, the 2021 competition was a submission-based competition. Teams were each made up of two full-time culinary students from a dedicated Canadian culinary program.

Each team created their own unique dish following the Cooks the Books criteria with a “Canadian Focus with Global Influence” theme to celebrate the foods grown and produced in Canada and our unique diversity. A recipe is made up of so much more than just the ingredients used to create a dish. The techniques, equipment and presentation all play a role in the final experience. Students were challenged to think of how Canadian ingredients can be transformed into an ethnically diverse and interesting recipe using global influences.