2022 Cooks the Books

Cooks the Books is a cooking competition that invites Canadian culinary students from across the nation to compete for the title of Canada’s Best New Student Chefs.

Congratulations to Durham College for winning Gold and Top Toques for willing the Silver medals at the 2022 student cooking competition.

Each team is to create their own unique dish following the Cooks the Books criteria based on the 2022 theme: Diverse Traditions Create Impact.

Drawing inspiration from their heritage, students will be challenged to develop a unique recipe using a variety of current food trends, including (but not limited to) local, seasonal, zero/low waste and others to create mouth-watering and impactful menu items, featuring a variety of Canadian ingredients, including a cut of Canadian Beef.

Students will select their choice of beef cut to work with by exploring a new web-based education tool, the Canadian Beef Information Gateway. The Gateway has information on over 70 cuts of beef with cut descriptions, complete nutrition info per cut, how-to-cook recommendations, over 300+ recipe videos and more.

Submissions will be judged and scored by a panel of experienced industry leaders using standardized scoring. Winners were announced on Monday, November 7, 2022, during the Taste Canada Awards Gala. Teams were awarded with a Chef-Inspired prize pack including chef-designed tools from CookUP to help food enthusiasts cook up like a pro.

The Taste Canada Cooks the Books Educational Resource Hub for Canadian Culinary Students and Food Professionals is loaded with valuable information. Learn about food trends, agricultural practices, food writing, nutrition and more from Taste Canada’s partners and notable industry experts.

Check back often as we continue to update and add additional resources to support this year’s competitors as they prepare for their battle in the Kitchen Arena!