BookNet bestsellers: cookbooks

Bad news for carb-loaders: this week’s best-selling cookbook is William Davis’s Wheat Belly Cookbook, the follow-up to his popular health guide, Wheat Belly.

For the two weeks ending Feb. 3:

1. Wheat Belly Cookbook, William Davis
(HarperCollins, $24.99 pa, 9781443416337)

2. Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
(John Wiley & Sons, $32.99 cl, 9781118476536)

3. The Juicing Bible, Pat Crocker
(Robert Rose, $27.95 pa, 9780778801818)

4. The Looneyspoons Collection, Janet and Greta Podleski
(Granet Publishing, $34.95 pa, 9780968063156)

5. Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook, Sally Vaughan-Johnston
(Robert Rose, $29.95 spiral bound, 9780778804130)

6. Meatless: More than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes
(Clarkson Potter/Random House, $29.95 pa, 9780307954565)

7. The Best of Clean Eating 3
(Robert Kennedy Publishing, $26.95 pa, 9781552101186)

8. Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, Ina Garten
(Clarkson Potter/Random House, $40 cl, 9780307464873)

9. Supergrains: Cook Your Way to Great Health, Chrissy Freer
(Appetite by Random House, $24.95 pa, 9780449015711)

10. Canadian Living: The Affordable Feasts Collection          
(Transcontinental Books, $26.95 pa, 9780987747433)

11. Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi, Yotam Ottolenghi and Jonathan Lovekin
(Chronicle Books/Raincoast, $39.95 cl, 9781452101248)

12. Paleo Slow Cooking: Gluten Free Recipes Made Simple, Chrissy Gower and Robb Wolf
(Tuttle Publishing, $34.50 pa, 9781936608690)

13. The 4-Hour Chef, Timothy Ferriss
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Thomas Allen & Son, $39.95 cl, 9780547884592)

14. The Soup Sisters Cookbook, Sharon Hapton and Pierre A. Lamielle
(Appetite by Random House, $22.95 pa, 9780449015599)

15. Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
(Appetite by Random House, $39.95 cl, 9780449015674)

16. Quinoa Revolution: Over 150 Healthy, Great-Tasting Recipes under 500 Calories, Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143183785)

17. Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook, Sarah Fragoso
(Tuttle Publishing, $33.95 pa, 9781936608638)

18. Crazy Sexy Kitchen, Kris Carr and Chef Chad Sarno
(Hay House/Raincoast, $29.95 cl, 9781401941048)

19. Fifty Shades of Chicken, F.L. Fowler
(Crown Publishing/Random House, $22.95 pa, 9780385345224)

20. Fast Flavours: 110 Simple, Speedy Recipes, Michael Smith
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143177647)

Canadian booksellers pick the top cookbooks of 2012

According to booksellers contacted by Q&Q, cookbooks that focus on ingredient-based specialty cooking have made a major resurgence.

Mika Bareket of Toronto’s Good Egg says, “Some of the biggest and best books of the year have been very focused on regional authenticity, some as specific as to a particular province or region within a nation. This trend replaces the more worldly chef-driven trends of previous years, which tend to yield culturally broad cookbooks.”

Click the thumbnails below to explore booksellers’ picks for the top cookbooks of 2012.

Natalie MacLean, Michael Smith among winners of Taste Canada’s food-writing awards

Culinary-narrative award winner Natalie MacLean

Although a few high-profile winners were unable to attend the ceremony, that didn’t stop last night’s newly rebranded Taste Canada – The Food Writing Awards from being a spirited affair.

Held at the Arcadian Court in Toronto, the awards – managed by the University of Guelph and a committee under the leadership of national chair Karen Gelbart – celebrate the country’s best English- and French-language food books.

Natalie MacLean’s Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines (Doubleday Canada), which earlier this year won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award, took home the prize for best English-language culinary narrative. Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan won the best single-subject cookbook for Spilling the Beans: Cooking & Baking with Beans & Grains Every Day (Whitecap Books). David Rocco, who sent a video message from India to accept his award, won best regional/cultural cookbook for Made in Italy (HarperCollins Canada). With his infant daughter perched on his lap, Chef Michael Smith sent in a video from Jasper, Alberta, to accept the best general cookbook award for Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen: 100 of My Favorite Easy Recipes (Penguin Canada).

Prolific cookbook author Anita Stewart was inducted into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame, along with posthumous recipients Catharine Parr Traill, Jeanne Anctil, and Margo Oliver.

This year, 73 titles were submitted for consideration. Publishers donated copies of all shortlisted titles to the University of Guelph library’s Canadian cookbook collection.

BookNet bestsellers: Canadian cookbooks

As winter approaches, classic recipes and comfort food dominate the bestsellers list for Canadian cookbooks.

For the two weeks ending Oct. 28:

1. Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes, Sally Vaughan-Johnston
(Robert Rose, $29.95 spiral bound, 9780778804130)

2. The Looneyspoons Collection, Janet and Greta Podleski
(Granet Publishing, $34.95 pa, 9780968063156)

3. Quinoa Revolution: Over 150 Healthy, Great-Tasting Recipes Under 500 Calories, Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143183785)

4. Fast Flavours: 110 Simple, Speedy Recipes, Michael Smith
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143177647)

5. The Vegetarian’s Complete Quinoa Cookbook, Mairlyn Smith
(Whitecap Books, $30 pa, 9781770500976)

6. The Soup Sisters Cookbook: 100 Simple Recipes to Warm Hearts . . . One Bowl at a Time, Sharon Hapton and Pierre A. Lamielle
(Appetite by Random House, $22.95 pa, 9780449015599)

7. Canadian Living: 150 Essential Whole Grain Recipes
(Transcontinental Books, $29.95 pa, 9780987747426)

8. Canadian Living: The Vegetarian Collection, Alison Kent
(Transcontinental, $22.95 pa, 9780981393803)

9. Canadian Living: The One-Dish Collection
(Transcontinental, $26.95 pa, 9780981393896)

10. Best Recipes Ever from Canadian Living and CBC     
(Transcontinental, $29.95 pa, 9780981393841)

11. Canadian Living: Make It Tonight
(Transcontinental, $27.95 pa, 9780981393865)

12. Canadian Living: The Slow Cooker Collection, Elizabeth Baird
(Transcontinental, $22.95 pa, 9780980992458)

13. The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, Sharon Hanna
(Harbour Publishing, $26.95 pa, 9781550175769)

14. Friday Night Dinners, Bonnie Stern
(Random House Canada, $29.95 pa, 9780307356765)

15. Healthy Slow Cooker, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781897477434)

16. Burma, Naomi Duguid
(Random House Canada, $39.95 cl, 9780307362162)

17. Rob Feenie’s Casual Classics: Everyday Recipes for Family and Friends, Rob Feenie
(Douglas & McIntyre, $29.95 pa, 9781553658733)

18. 300 Best Canadian Bread Machine Recipes, Donna Washburn
(Robert Rose, $27.95 pa, 9780778802426)

19. 5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781897477069)

20. Everyday Kitchen for Kids, Jennifer Low
(Whitecap, $30 pa, 9781770500662)

The ingredients of timeless Canadian cookbooks

In the October issue of Q&Q, Melissa Buote talks to publishers and booksellers about what makes a classic Canadian cookbook.

Food is so fundamental to our culture it’s almost impossible to think of how ephemeral recipes once were, with family favourites collected in loose stacks of handwritten cards.

The forerunners of today’s commercial cookbooks were stapled booklets published by companies like Cook’s Friend Baking Powder or McAllister Milling Co., or by the Ladies’ Aid Society at a church or in a small town. In 1915, the Five Roses Cook Book, distributed by the flour company of the same name, hung on the walls of more than 600,000 Canadian households, dangling by the string that snaked its way through a hole in its top corner.

Five Roses remains popular today, in the company of vintage titles like The Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book (1966) and The Purity Flour Cookbook (1967), all three of which have been reprinted in the last decade as part of Whitecap Books’ Classic Canadian Cookbook series.

While many titles have stood the test of time, including Jehane Benoît’s Encyclopedia of Canadian Cooking (1974), Elizabeth Baird’s Classic Canadian Cooking (1995), and Jean Paré’s ubiquitous Company’s Coming series, it is still difficult for booksellers, publishers, and writers to pinpoint the exact ingredients for making a classic Canadian cookbook.

“We’re a different type of country,” says Barbara-jo McIntosh, owner of Vancouver’s Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks. “We don’t have really distinct cuisine in an all-encompassing way.” What we do have, she says, is history.

While Alison Fryer, owner of Toronto’s The Cookbook Store, believes that classic cookbooks attract readers through storytelling and presentation, she says the only thing worth a thousand words is a thousand well-written words. “Classic Canadian Cooking has no photos and doesn’t have a particularly engaging layout, but the recipes resonate with Canadians,” she says. For Fryer, the reason is simple: “They are so Canadian.”

Arsenal Pulp Press publisher Brian Lam suggests classic cookbooks should speak to other aspects of the culture, beyond food. “Whether it’s a particular community or region, or that it simply reflects our sense of social well-being,” he says. “Those are the things that resonate long after the meal has ended.”

In May, Arsenal Pulp released a new edition of Judie Glick’s 1985 tome The New Granville Island Market Cookbook, which features current photos of dishes and life at the popular Vancouver market. “The original book was very much of its era: a trade paperback, black type only, no photographs,” says Lam. “We wanted the new book to be a complete overhaul of the original.”

It’s not just the cookbook’s design that radically changed: only a handful of the original recipes appear in the revised edition. “The new ones reflect consumers’ increased sophistication, as well as the influences of Asian and other cuisines,” Lam says.

Edna Staebler

Wilfrid Laurier University Press took the opposite approach this spring when transforming Edna Staebler’s 1968 Mennonite cookbook, Food that Really Schmecks, into an iPad app. Photos and video were added for interactivity, but “we did not tinker with the recipes,” says Clare Hitchens, publicist at WLU Press.

Hitchens suggests that writer Rose Murray nailed the essence of a classic – and of Staebler’s cult popularity – in her introduction to the book’s 2006 edition.

“[Murray] talks about the use of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients, and the conversational tone that comes from sitting in the kitchen and learning the recipes as they are created,” says Hitchens. “Edna herself said about the cookbook that it is ‘not elaborate, or exotic, with rare ingredients and mystifying flavours; traditional local cooking is practical.’”

Hitchens adds, “A classic cookbook can be used no matter … the trends of the day.”

Patrick Murphy, managing editor at Halifax’s Nimbus Publishing, believes that timeless recipes, along with a dash of nostalgia, are key to a cookbook’s longevity. “It has to offer something unique, and it has to have recipes that have been tried and tested and loved,” he says.

In 2010, Nimbus published the 40th anniversary edition of Marie Nightingale’s Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens, an East Coast staple that has never been out of print. Like Staebler’s Food that Really Schmecks, the book’s recipes have remained the same since it was first released.

“Marie has been around a long time and the book has sold over 100,000 copies, so I’m simply not going to change it,” says Murphy.

Over the years, Nightingale says she has been asked many times if she plans to update the book’s contents. “I just said, ‘You can’t change history.’”

Werner Herzog to adapt Vernon God Little, Twitter to host fiction festival, and more

• Film director Werner Herzog to adapt DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little 
• Twitter to host its first fiction festival in November
• Short list for Dylan Thomas Prize announced 
• The fourth Self-Publishing Book Expo to take place Oct. 27 in New York City
• James Tait Black Prize announces shortlist for Britain’s oldest literary award
• Cookbooks reach zenith in popularity

BookNet bestsellers: cookbooks

Chef Michael Smith, who has this week’s best-selling cookbook, is a relative newcomer compared to Jean Paré, whose classic Company’s Coming series appears on the list five times.

For the two weeks ending Sept. 30:

1. Fast Flavours: 110 Simple, Speedy Recipes, Michael Smith
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143177647)

2. The Looneyspoons Collection, Janet and Greta Podleski
(Granet Publishing, $34.95 pa, 9780968063156)

3. Canadian Living: 150 Essential Whole Grain Recipes
(Transcontinental Books, $29.95 pa, 9780987747426)

4. The Vegetarian’s Complete Quinoa Cookbook, Mairlyn Smith
(Whitecap Books, $30 pa, 9781770500976)

5. Rob Feenie’s Casual Classics: Everyday Recipes for Family and Friends, Rob Feenie
(Douglas & McIntyre, $29.95 pa, 9781553658733)

6. Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood, Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming
(Whitecap, $29.95 pa, 9781552859940)

7. The Soup Sisters Cookbook, Sharon Hapton and Pierre A. Lamielle
(Appetite by Random House, $22.95 pa, 9780449015599)

8. The Book of Kale: The Easy-to-Grow Superfood, Sharon Hanna
(Harbour Publishing, $26.95 pa, 9781550175769)

9. The Chew: Cooking, Entertainment, and Style
(Hyperion/HarperCollins, $21.99 pa, 9781401311063)

10. Simple Dinners, Donna Hay
(HarperCollins, $34.99 pa, 9781443416559)

11. Most Loved Slow Cooker and Soup Recipes, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $29.99 cl, 9781927126288)

12. 5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781897477069)

13. Healthy Slow Cooker, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781897477434)

14. Canadian Living: The One-Dish Collection
(Transcontinental, $26.95 pa, 9780981393896)

15. The America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook
(America’s Test Kitchen, $37.95 spiral bound, 9781933615998)

16. Adding Vegetables, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781927126271)

17. Canadian Living: The Slow Cooker Collection, Elizabeth Baird
(Transcontinental Books, $22.95 pa, 9780980992458)

18. Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen, Michael Smith
(Penguin Canada, $32 pa, 9780143177630)

19. Mostly Muffins, Jean Paré
(Company’s Coming, $16.99 spiral bound, 9781897069035)

20. Illustrated Step-by-Step Baking, Caroline Bretherton
(Dorling Kindersley/Tourmaline, $39 cl, 9780756686796)

Fall preview 2012: Canadian non-fiction, part II

The season of high-profile literary awards and author festivals is on its way, and there’s no shortage of new releases from marquee names. In the July/August issue, Q&Q looks ahead at some of the fall’s biggest books.

TRUE CRIME

In 2009, police discovered a car in the Rideau Canal just outside of Kingston, Ontario. The car contained the bodies of three sisters – Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti Shafia – and 50-year-old Rona Amir Mohammad. Authorities later arrested the girls’ father, brother, and mother, all of whom were convicted of first-degree murder for their roles in the honour killings. Paul Schliesmann’s Honour on Trial (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $19.95 pa., Oct.) examines the facts behind the case that horrified Canadians.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

He’s been a dragon in his den and gone to prison for his reality-television show, Redemption Inc. Now, Kevin O’Leary, businessman, pundit, and author of the hybrid memoir/business guide Cold Hard Truth, returns with The Cold Hard Truth about Men, Women and Money (Doubleday Canada, $29.95 cl., Dec.), a guide to avoiding common financial mistakes. • O’Leary’s left-leaning opponent on CBC’s The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, Amanda Lang, has a leadership book out this season. The Power of Why: Simple Questions that Lead to Success (HarperCollins Canada, $33.99 cl., Oct.) postulates that asking the right questions leads to increased productivity.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

From the internal combustion engine and cold fusion to the Internet and the artificial heart, all scientific discoveries and technological advancements are the product of human ingenuity. In the 2012 CBC Massey Lectures, Neil Turok argues that science represents humanity’s best hope for progress and peace. The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos (House of Anansi Press, $19.95 pa.) appears in September. • Terence Dickinson is editor of the Canadian astronomy magazine Sky News and author of the bestseller NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. His new book, Hubble’s Universe: Greatest Discoveries and Images (Firefly Books, $49.95 cl., Sept.), is a visually sumptuous compendium of images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

CULTURE & CRITICISM

Novelist and short-story writer Thomas King, who was also the first native person to deliver the prestigious CBC Massey Lectures, has long been a committed advocate for native rights. In The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (Doubleday Canada, $34.95 cl., Nov.), King examines the way European settlers and natives have viewed each other via pop culture, treaties, and legislation. • Poet and critic Kathleen McConnell explores the portrayal of women in pop culture through the ages in Pain, Porn and Complicity: Women Heroes from Pygmalion to Twilight (Wolsak & Wynn, $19 pa., Nov.).

In A Civil Tongue, philosophy professor and public intellectual Mark Kingwell predicted the devolution of political discourse into a schoolyard-like shouting match. His new collection, Unruly Voices: Essays on Democracy, Civility, and the Human Imagination (Biblioasis, $21.95 pa., Sept.), is about how incivility and bad behaviour prevent us from achieving the kind of society we desire.

Poet, publisher, and critic Carmine Starnino turns his incisive and cutting attention to CanLit in his new collection of essays, Lazy Bastardism (Gaspereau Press,  Sept.). • James Pollock believes that Canadian poetry lacks an authentic relationship with poetry from the rest of the world. His new book, You Are Here: Essays on the Art of Poetry in Canada (The Porcupine’s Quill, $22.95 pa., Nov.), attempts to situate Canadian poetry in a global context, through examinations of the work of writers such as Anne Carson, Eric Ormsby, and Karen Solie.

A new anthology from Women’s Press brings together essays addressing specific concerns of LGBT communities and individuals across the country. Edited by Maureen FitzGerald and Scott Rayter, Queerly Canadian: An Introductory Reader in Sexuality Studies ($64.95 pa., Sept.) takes up issues of education, law, and religion, among others. • For a brief moment in the 1960s, Montreal became a hotbed of Civil Rights activism, radically challenging traditional conceptions of racial hierarchies. The 1968 Congress of Black Writers included activists and spokespeople such as Stokely Carmichael, C.L.R. James, and Harry Edwards. David Austin chronicles this important gathering in Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal (Between the Lines, $24.95 pa., Nov.).

Belles Lettres (McArthur & Company, $29.95 pa., Nov.) is a collection of postcards from authors such as Baudelaire, Flaubert, Proust, and Charlotte Brontë, collated and annotated by Greg Gatenby, the founding artistic director of Toronto’s International

Festival of Authors. • In The Other Side of Midnight: Taxi Cab Stories (Creative Book Publishing, $19.95 pa., Oct.), writer and anthologist Mike Heffernan chronicles the experiences of St. John’s cab drivers and their clients.

ENTERTAINMENT

In the years following Liz Worth’s Treat Me Like Dirt, the market for books about the Canadian punk music scene has been as frenzied as the audience at a Fucked Up concert. In Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk, (ECW, $22.95 pa., Oct.), Sam Sutherland looks at the historical context for Canadian punk progenitors such as D.O.A., the Viletones, and Teenage Head. • One early Canadian punk band – Victoria’s NoMeans­No – is the subject of the latest book in the Bibliophonic series from Invisible Publishing. NoMeansNo: Going Nowhere ($12.95 pa.), by Halifax author Mark Black, is due out in October.

Marc Strange, who died in May, was known for mystery novels such as Body Blows and Follow Me Down. He was also the co-creator (with L.S. Strange) of the seminal Canadian television series The Beachcombers. Bruno and the Beach: The Beachcombers at 40 (Harbour Publishing, $26.95 pa., Sept.), co-written with Jackson Davies, the actor who played Constable John Constable in the series, chronicles the iconic show and its equally iconic lead actor.

Since its release in 1971, Ken Russell’s notoriously blasphemous film, The Devils, has been the subject of heavy censorship in both the U.S. and the U.K. Canadian film scholar Richard Crouse examines the history of this cult classic in Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils (ECW, $19.95 pa., Oct.), which includes an interview with the film’s director, who died in 2011.

HUMOUR

Former model and current stay-at-home mom Kelly Oxford has found her largest measure of fame as a result of her sarcastic Twitter feed (@kellyoxford), which features such Oscar Wildean witticisms as “IDEA: ‘Bless This Mess’ novelty period panties” and “Some parents in China get their kids to work in factories and I can’t get my kid to pass me some Twizzlers.” The essays in Everything’s Perfect When You’re a Liar (HarperCollins Canada, $24.99 cl., Sept.) promise more of the same. • If you prefer your humour with a larger dollop of political satire, you’ll be pleased to know that Rick Mercer has a collection of brand new rants on the way. A Nation Worth Ranting About (Doubleday Canada, $29.95 cl., Oct.) includes the author’s description of bungee jumping with Rick Hansen, and a more serious piece about Jamie Hubley, a gay teen who committed suicide after being bullied.

If you want to know whether you might be a redneck, ask Jeff Foxworthy. If you want to know whether you might be a native of Saskatchewan, check your birth certificate or consult the new book from author Carson Demmans and illustrator Jason Sylvestre. You Might Be from Saskatchewan If … (MacIntyre Purcell/Canadian Manda Group, $12.95 pa.) appears in September.

FOOD & DRINK

Rob Feenie is the latest Food Network Canada celebrity chef with a new cookbook. The host of New Classics with Chef Rob Feenie, who famously defeated Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef America, offers innovative approaches to classic, family-friendly fare in Rob Feenie’s Casual Classics: Everyday Recipes for Family and Friends (D&M, $29.95 pa., Sept.). The recipes have undergone stringent quality control, each one having been approved by Feenie’s children, aged 3, 6, and 7.

Camilla V. Saulsbury’s 500 Best Quinoa Recipes: Using Nature’s Superfood for Gluten-free Breakfasts, Mains, Desserts and More (Robert Rose, $27.95 pa., Oct.) provides more healthy recipes based on the reigning superstar ingredient. • Aaron Ash, founder of Gorilla Food, a Vancouver restaurant that features vegan, organic, and raw cuisine, has achieved popularity among celebrity fans including Woody Harrelson and Katie Holmes. His new book, Gorilla Food: Living and Eating Organic, Vegan, and Raw (Arsenal Pulp, $24.95 pa., Oct.), collects 150 recipes, all of which are made without a heat source.

SPORTS

Rocker Dave Bidini returns to his other passion – hockey – in A Wild Stab for It: This Is Game Eight from Russia (ECW, $22.95 cl., Sept.), in which the author talks to various Canadians about the influence of the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series. The release of the book is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the iconic series. • The man who made that series so memorable also has a book out this fall. Co-written with sports commentator Roger Lajoie, The Goal of My Life (Fenn/M&S, $32.99 cl., Sept.) traces Paul Henderson’s route through the OHL and the NHL, on his way to scoring “the goal of the century.”

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup, ex–CFL quarterback and coach Frank Cosentino has penned the appropriately titled The Grey Cup 100th Anniversary (McArthur & Company, $29.95 pa., Oct.). • Crime fiction writer Michael Januska offers his own take on 100 years of Canadian football history in Grey Cup Century (Dundurn, $14.99 pa., Sept.).

Q&Q’s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2012. • All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.

Taste Canada announces shortlist for 2012 food writing awards

After wading through 73 submissions, Taste Canada has come up with a shortlist for its 2012 Food Writing Awards. This year’s list offers titles from some of the country’s biggest publishers (Penguin Canada, HarperCollins Canada) and a few of its most beloved indie presses (Arsenal Pulp Press, Whitecap Books), plus a smattering of self-published breakthrough books (The Boreal Herbal, Whitewater Cooks with Friends).

Taste Canada (formerly the Canadian Culinary Book Awards) is upping the swank factor for the awards’ 15th anniversary by moving the ceremony from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto to the city’s Arcadian Court for a gala reception on Nov. 5. (The organization will continue to sponsor an event at the Royal this year.)

The shortlisted English-language titles are:

Culinary Narratives
Leslie Beck’s Longevity Diet, Leslie Beck (Penguin Canada)
The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North, Beverley Gray (Aroma Borealis Press)
Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines, Natalie MacLean (Doubleday Canada)

General Cookbooks
Whitewater Cooks with Friends, Shelley Adams (Alicon Holdings)
Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal, Jennifer McLagan (HarperCollins Canada)
Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen, Michael Smith (Penguin Canada)

Regional/Cultural Cookbooks
The Ontario Table, Lynn Ogryzlo (Epulum Books)
Made in Italy, David Rocco (HarperCollins Canada)
Market Chronicles: Stories and Recipes from Montreal’s Marché Jean-Talon, Susan Semenak (Éditions Cardinal)

Single-Subject Cookbooks
Preserving, Pat Crocker (HarperCollins Canada)
We Sure Can! How Jams and Pickles are Reviving the Lure of and Lore of Local Food, Sarah B. Hood (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Spilling the Beans, Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan (Whitecap Books)

The shortlist of French-language books is available here.

Tosca Reno takes the reins at Robert Kennedy Publishing

Author and fitness maven Tosca Reno will take over as publisher and chief executive officer at Robert Kennedy Publishing in Mississauga, Ontario.

Robert Kennedy, who founded RKP in 1967 with the launch of MuscleMag International, named Reno as his successor before his death last week, Masthead reports. Reno, who was married to Kennedy, began her career at RKP as a columnist for Oxygen magazine. Since then, she has contributed to the company’s various health and fitness magazines and published 13 books under the Robert Kennedy imprint, including her best-selling Eat-Clean Diet series. Her latest book, The Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook was released this month.

From Masthead:

In addition to her work with RKP’s magazines and books, Reno has toured North America conducting health and wellness seminars [in] schools, companies, and other organizations. She has also spread the word of healthy living as a guest on numerous national television programs including The Marilyn Denis Show, Entertainment Tonight, The Doctors, and was the star of her own Gemini Award-winning reality show named Tosca: Flexing at 49.