14 September 2016

The nominees for the 2016 Taste Canada Awards were announced yesterday. Bestowed annually since 1997, the Taste Canada Awards showcases world-class, Canadian culinary writing. Included in this year’s shortlist for Culinary Narratives is Sir John’s Table: The Culinary Life and Times of Canada’s First Prime Minister by Lindy Mechefske.

Sir John's Table traverses the colourful life of Sir John A. Macdonald and takes readers on a journey through the culinary history of a nation. From Macdonald’s passage as a young Scottish boy in the steerage compartment aboard the Earl of Buckinghamshire to his childhood years of stealing fish and scarfing down fairy cakes to the elaborate galas held in his honour, Sir John’s Table is a unique look at the life of Canada’s first prime minister through the lens of our culinary past.

Also nominated in the Culinary Narratives category were Jeffrey Alford for Chicken in the Mango Tree: Food and Life in a Thai-Khmer Village(Douglas & McIntyre), Linda Gaylard for The Tea Book (DK), Alissa Hamilton for Got Milked? What You Don’t Know About Dairy, The Truth About Calcium, And Why You’ll Thrive Without Milk (HarperCollins), and Peter McClusky for Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival (Arcadia Publishing and The History Press).

The awards will be presented in Toronto at a gala celebration hosted by Mary Ito on November 14. This one-of-a-kind gastronomic event will feature more than a dozen chef-led food stations presented by Toronto’s most celebrated chefs, and a Red Carpet walked by some of Canada’s most celebrated writers and culinary personalities.