From garden-inspired vegetarian cooking to food memoirs and wood-fired meals, the 2026 Taste Canada Awards offer plenty of ideas for our next kitchen read.
There’s always room for another cookbook, particularly one that gives us a reason to try something new. The 2026 Taste Canada Awards winners have been announced, with 20 gold and silver honours recognizing Canadian culinary writing in English and French.
The winners were revealed on Sunday, October 25, at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York during the 29th annual awards celebration, hosted by Bob Blumer and Ali Hassan. This year’s competition drew 79 submissions, with 49 titles making the shortlist across five categories in each language.
The evening also celebrated two authors whose work deserves a place on any serious food lover’s reading list: Jennifer McLagan and Niloufer Mavalvala, the newest inductees into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame.
Cookbooks and food stories to put on your radar
Several of this year’s winners will be familiar to GLV readers. Our 2025 Canadian cookbook roundup included seven of the winning titles, from Two Chefs in the Garden and Tahini Baby to Bread etc. and Wood, Fire & Smoke.
For a closer look at Irene Matys’s gold-winning book, read our My Cypriot Table feature, including recipes for Cypriot meatballs and Baklava Butter Tarts. I also featured My Cypriot Table, Two Chefs in the Garden, Tahini Baby and The Essential Cottage Cookbook in my Canadian cookbook roundup for VITA.
Women authors feature prominently among this year’s English-language gold winners. Bonny Reichert’s How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty took the Culinary Narratives award, while Andrea Buckett won General Cookbooks for The Essential Cottage Cookbook, a collection pitched to cooks at cottages, cabins and wherever their travels take them.
Irene Matys earned Regional / Cultural Cookbooks gold for My Cypriot Table: Mediterranean Recipes for Gathering, Sharing, and Savoring. For those of us who plan a gathering around what’s on the table, that’s an inviting place to start.
Vegetarian cooking also has a strong showing. Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk won gold in Health, Lifestyle or Special Diet Cookbooks for Two Chefs in the Garden, with more than 150 garden-inspired vegetarian recipes. Eden Grinshpan’s Tahini Baby took silver in the same category.
Michael Smith’s Wood, Fire & Smoke won Single-Subject Cookbooks gold, with Matthew James Duffy’s Bread etc. earning silver. Between the two, there’s inspiration for cooks who want to spend more time working with fire, dough and technique.
The 2026 English-language winners
- Culinary Narratives: Gold — How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty by Bonny Reichert. Silver — The Lobster Trap: The Global Fight for a Seafood on the Brink by Greg Mercer.
- General Cookbooks: Gold — The Essential Cottage Cookbook: Simply Delicious Recipes for Cottages, Cabins, and Wherever Your Travels Take You by Andrea Buckett. Silver — Arthurs: Home of the Nosh: A Big Personality Cookbook of Delicious Jewish Favorites by Raegan Steinberg, Alexander Cohen and Evelyne Eng.
- Regional / Cultural Cookbooks: Gold — My Cypriot Table: Mediterranean Recipes for Gathering, Sharing, and Savoring by Irene Matys. Silver — La Cucina di Terroni: The Cookbook by Cosimo Mammoliti.
- Single-Subject Cookbooks: Gold — Wood, Fire & Smoke: Recipes and Techniques for Wood-Fired Cooking by Michael Smith. Silver — Bread etc. by Matthew James Duffy.
- Health, Lifestyle or Special Diet Cookbooks: Gold — Two Chefs in the Garden: Over 150 Garden-Inspired Vegetarian Recipes by Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk. Silver — Tahini Baby by Eden Grinshpan.
The 2026 French-language winners
The French-language awards cover everything from seasonal food stories to restaurant cooking, honey and everyday vegan meals. Wine lovers may want to take a closer look at En accord : Cépages, recettes et prises de bec by Lesley Chesterman and Jean Aubry, which won gold in the single-subject category.
- Culinary Narratives: Gold — Territoires – Tome 1: Printemps by Fabien Cloutier and Jean-Philippe Leclerc. Silver — Territoires – Tome 2: Hiver by the same authors.
- General Cookbooks: Gold — Nos 100 recettes (les meilleures) by Ricardo Larrivée. Silver — Recevoir by Geneviève O’Gleman.
- Regional / Cultural Cookbooks: Gold — Moccione : Histoires et recettes de notre petit resto italien by Luca Cianciulli and Maxime Landry. Silver — Nostalgies : 100 desserts rétro revisités by Antoine Goulet and Philippe Dickey.
- Single-Subject Cookbooks: Gold — En accord : Cépages, recettes et prises de bec by Lesley Chesterman and Jean Aubry. Silver — MIELS by Anne-Virginie Schmidt.
- Health, Lifestyle or Special Diet Cookbooks: Gold — La table d’Éline : 100 recettes véganes du quotidien by Éline Bonnin. Silver — Les raccourcis de Loounie by Caroline Huard.
Jennifer McLagan and Niloufer Mavalvala enter the Hall of Fame
Presented by the Culinary Historians of Canada, the Taste Canada Hall of Fame recognizes lifetime contributions to Canadian culinary writing.
Jennifer McLagan has built a body of work around ingredients and flavours that don’t always get a warm reception. Her five books — Bones, Fat, Odd Bits, Bitter and Blood — bring recipes together with history, folklore and science. They invite readers to look more closely at foods they might otherwise overlook.
Niloufer Mavalvala’s work preserves and shares Parsi food culture. Her books include The Art of Parsi Cooking, The World of Parsi Cooking: Food across Borders, The Vegetarian Parsi and The Route to Parsi Cooking. Her recognition puts a welcome spotlight on the role cookbooks play in carrying food traditions between generations and across borders.
Celebrating Canada’s emerging chefs
The evening also recognized the winners of Taste Canada’s Cooks the Books student cooking competition, presented by Canada Beef.
Makena Simpson and Hayley Miller of Saskatchewan Polytechnic won gold for Hanger Steak with Rice Crisped Kabocha Squash and Autumnal Brassica. The pair earned the title of Canada’s Best New Student Chefs, a $3,000 educational bursary and the competition trophy for their school.
Charlene Swaine and Isabelle Vicentin of New Brunswick Community College won silver for Flank Steak Involtini with Mushroom Risotto and Autumn Vegetables.
Sixteen students from seven culinary schools competed at Cirillo’s Academy in Toronto. Their dishes were required to use at least 60 per cent ingredients grown, produced or raised in Canada.
Find the complete awards details at Taste Canada, and explore more of our cookbook coverage on Good Life Vancouver.
