HISTORY OF THE AWARDS

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. Every year, they honour the best food and wine books.

The Objectives

The objectives of the Awards are:

  • To reward and honour those who “cook with words”.
  • Help readers find the best out of the 26.000 foods and wine books produced every year.
  • To help publishers with international rights to translate and distribute food and wine books.
  • To help bookstores find the best books to display.
  • To create an opportunity to access the major markets in English, German, Spanish or French, Arabic, Chinese, etc. for books originated in other languages.
  • To increase knowledge of, and respect for, food and wine culture, which promotes peace.

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The History of the Awards

  • Edouard Cointreau founded the World Cookbook Awards in 1995, renamed Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2001. The awards event took place at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1995 and 1996, in Paris in 1997, in Périgueux in 1998, in Versailles in 1999, in Périgueux in 2000, and in Sorges, Capital of the Truffles of Périgord in 2001.
  • The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2002 event for books published in 2002 have taken place at the Chateau de Brissac, in the Loire Valley next to Angers, France, on February 28, 2003. The following Gourmand World Cookbook Awards event for books published in 2003 took place in Barcelona on February 27, 2004 during a gala dinner, at the same time than the Mediterranean Cookbook Fair which we organized from February 26 to 29, 2004. The next event was in Orebro-Grythyttan, Sweden, on February 11, 2005. After Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in May 2006, it is again in Asia that the “Best in the World” were announced in Hollywood style at the Gala, in Beijing on April 7, 2007. For books of 2007, the yearly “Best in the World” event came back to Europe, to the next Olympic City, London, on April 13 2008 at Olympia Theatre. In July 1, 2009, 800 guests from 40 countries were at La Comédie Française in Paris.
  • In February 2010 and March 2011, the Awards go to Le Cent Quatre the new artistic center of the City of Paris.

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The Rules for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2011

  • All books published between November 15, 2010 and November 15, 2011 qualify.
    The books in the category of Fund Raising Cookbooks may be older.
  • Manuscripts and publishers proofs are also accepted.
  • Books compete in their original languages, in all categories, except the category “Translation” created in 2007.
  • There are no entry fees. The competition is free and open to all.
  • Books may be entered by anyone: authors, publishers or even readers.
  • The Jury decides in which category books compete, and may change nominees from one category to another at the final jury meeting. The Jury may decide that awards for some categories remain vacant, and there may be more than one winner per category.

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The Process

  • In 2010, over 8.000 books were received, from 154 countries.
  • The books have first to qualify in a national competition, with results announced in December.
  • They represent their country in the “Best in the World” competition, which are proclaimed the following year.

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The Jury

  • The international jury for all languages and the Best in the World is composed of:
  • Edouard Cointreau, Chairman of the Awards Committe.
  • Sara Baer-Sinnott, President of the Oldways Exchange and Trust Foundation (USA).
  • Jean Jacques Ratier, Director of Hospitality School of Dordogne.
  • Bo Masser, Author

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The Categories

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the global international competition of the sector, with 136 countries participating. There are many other local or national awards for food and wine books, with many different categories.
In order to fully represent the diversity of food and drink publishing around the world, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards have 53 categories for cookbooks and 23 for drinks books.

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The Impact of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards

  • Winners books get more visibility in the marketplace and higher sales, often with new print runs.
  • Translations and international rights deals are negotiated.
  • Winners use self-adhesive stickers to announce their award to the public. They issue press releases in their local markets, which helps make the Gourmand Awards known worldwide. The winners give permanent presence to the awards on their internet sites, in publishers catalogues and in the following books and authors biographies.
  • TThe impact is worldwide, through television and other media.

    • “Awards are amazing things. When you win, you really believe in them, when you don’t, you pick holes in them. Having been a professional judge of many different things, including food, wine, cooking, recipes, books, radio and television, I know how difficult a job it is.
    What doesn’t change is the effect awards have on sales. They really do help. It’s particularly important for the small market we have here in NZ. Our books are competing with zillions of others coming in from overseas. It is fantastic to have international recognition for NZ books”.
    Julie Biuso, Author. New Zealand

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BOOK FAIRS

Frankfurt Book Fair

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London Book Fair

Gourmand is proud of its agreement with Reed Exhibitions for the LBF/ Gourmand Cookbook Corner at the London Book Fair.

Alistair Burtenshaw comments: ‘Edouard Cointreau is one of the most renowned names in the international world of cookery and we are enormously fortunate to be partnering with The Gourmand World Cook Book Awards. With his unique overview I know that we will be delivering a truly world class programme of cookery demonstrations at The London Book Fair.’

london book fair

london book fair

london book fair

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GOURMAND ALL OVER THE WORLD

The history of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards is parallel to the history of cookbook publishing in the past 14 years. The years correspond to the year of the publishing of the books involved in a competition, while the awards event takes place between December and the following May.

1995 Frankfurt.

Cookbooks are difficult to find at the Frankfurt Book Fair. To give them respect and honours, Edouard Cointreau decides with a small group of friends and international publishers to create the World Cookbook Awards. It is sponsored by ICR-The International Cookbook Revue, launched with a printing of 15000 at the 1995 Frankfurt Book Fair. It follows the “Le Cordon Bleu Book of Cookbooks”, international bibliographies of cookbooks in 4 languages.

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1996 Frankfurt.

The Australian Murdoch Books is our cookbook publisher of the year, starting a revolution in the design and the concept of books worldwide. Our book of the year is the “Vineyards of Saint Colombe”, by french best selling author Christian Signol. It is a “terroir” book, by big french publisher Albin Michel. Our international book is “Tukka”, by Jean Paul Bruneteau (Harper Collins Australia). The awards are proclaimed at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

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1997 Paris.

Thanks to the sponsoring of Cognac Frapin, the awards take place at the “Astor” restaurant in Paris, advised by Joel Robuchon. It is our first Awards Gala, with Baronesses Nadine and Ariane de Rothschild, star publisher Pierre Marchand, Anne Willan, Philip Clark, Allison Cathie, Wini Brugger from Hong Kong, NHK Books from Japan, Monique Janet Hooker from the US and many others. The Awards become a world event

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1998 Perigueux.

The event takes place for the first time in parallel with the Perigueux Salon International du Livre Gourmand. It is presided by Alain Ducasse, with guest of honour Chuck Williams. Albert Àdria is the star with his pastry book and his chocolate limited edition gift to the guests. We also reward Anneke Ammerlaan, Vefa Alexiadou, Margaret Dickenson and others. The Awards are not only an international event, but also a meeting place and a food discovery. We start the concept of linking international and local, through a “Tasting Perigord” tour.

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1999 Versailles.

It is the year of Claudia Roden, Ruth Ozeki, Michael Ginor, and the French Laundry. We have the first American Foie Gras tasting in France, at the INRA French National Agricultural Research Institute, with Andre Daguin. And the day of the Gala Dinner in this Royal setting, there is a national strike of waiters and firemen in all Republican France = international star chefs led by Andrés Madrigal of Spain volunteer to serve as waiters to help.
On the photo, Mr. Xavier Darcos, now Minister of Education, Mr. François de Mazières, now Mayor of Versailles and journalist Alain Bernard of Sud Ouest.

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2000 Perigueux.

On November 11, 2000 the German Dieter Müller receives the top international award, and Alain Dutournier the French one. This is quite a peaceful symbol. Anne Dolamore of Grub Street is there as best publisher of the year. The Special Award of the Millenium is given for his wine book “Les Vins du Siècle” to Philippe Faure Brac. Chef Wan of Malaysia is the star, with his show of a royal wedding banquet at the Malay Court.The guest of honour is Richard Grausman, of the US C-CAP organization, Carreers for the Culinary Arts Professionals

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2001 Sorges.

The event takes place for the first time in Sorges – Capital of the Truffles of Perigord. We organize a dinner with 22 kilogs of black truffles du Perigord, a World Record. The Awards are renamed “The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards”, and the Gala Dinner becomes a music and lights show like the “oscars”. Several televisions film. The stars are Elisabeth Luard, Anne Willan, Emi Kazuko, Dr. Miguel Sánchez Romera, Gilles and Laurence Laurendon, Julie Biuso and many others. The wine stars are Richard Juhlin, and Bruno Boidron of Feret.
Until 2001, the event is for books published the same year. The next event from 2003 are for books published the year before. For instance in 2003 for books from 2002.

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2003 Loire Valley, Angers.

Chateau de Brissac, Loire Valley . The Marquis de Brissac hosted the event, with many star chefs and friends, including Edouard Carlier of Beauvilliers in Paris. Chef Wan was back, following a new trend of past event stars coming back to a yearly event of friendship, fun and business. The book of the year was “Essential Cuisine” by Michel Bras. The wine star was Rene Renou, President of INAO and member of the Gourmand French jury. This was a very elegant and glamorous event that set the awards apart from all other events of the sector. The Australian Ambassador to France was there, with Maurice de Rohan, Agent General for South Australia, the perfect gentleman and friend, who did not miss any Gourmand events.

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2004 Barcelona, Spain.

Gourmand comes to the new capital of innovative cuisine. Star chefs come from everywhere: Heston Blumenthal gets his Third Michelin Star the same week as he is rewarded for the Best Book of the Year. Some of the other chefs are Fatema Hal, Lea Linster, Roland Mazère, Le Divellec, Paco Torreblanca. The wine stars are Michael Broadbent, Miguel Torres, the Marqués de Vargas. The guest of honour is Dun Gifford, of Oldways. There are twelve Ambassadors, plus chef Wan, the food ambassador of Malaysia.
Until 2001, the event is for books published the same year. The next event from 2003 are for books published the year before. For instance in 2003 for books from 2002.

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2005 Grythyttan, Sweden.

Grythyttan, Province of Orebro, Sweden. Sweden is the country that buys the highest number of cookbooks per person. Gourmand guests visited the best cookbook Museum and Library in Europe, in Grythyttan, and the food sites of this region, 200 kilometres west of Stockholm. The star was Harumi Kurihara of Japan, who won Best Cookbook of the Year. The Award ceremony was celebrated with a Symphony Orchestra in the Orebro theater. The Award Dinner was “The new Swedish Smörgåsbord” by star chefs Mathias Dahlgren, and Stefan Karlsson. Leif Pagrotsky, Minister of Culture and Education of Sweden, presided the event. There were eight televisions filming, including shows for BBC, Fuji, Gambero Rosso, etc.
Photo: Harumi Kurihara and Husband.

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2006 Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia.

After 10 years in Europe, Gourmand went to Asia. The focus in Malaysia was food media and tourism: food is one of the keys to tourism today. Malaysia is “truly Asia”, with Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arab, Thai and Western cuisine. The Prime Minister hosted a dinner feast for 500 guests at his private residence. The awards event was very glamorous. Tom Victor Gausdal of Norway won Best Book of the Year, and Young Mo Kim, President of the Bakers Association of Korea won “Best Pastry Book”. Twenty six ambassadors came to dinner, plus chef Wan, the food ambassador of Malaysia.
Photo: Young Mo Kim from Korea.

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2007 Beijing, China.

Beijing, China, Dragon Springs Hotel. The focus in Beijing is professional, with conferences by printers, Chinese publishers, superb diners, and much entertaining. There is much Dragon Seals Chinese wine, and even Tibetan wine. The Chinese Food Network filmed all the event, with a special show broadcast all over China. There were many stars, including Chef Ramzi filming for Future Television. Chef Wan, Vefa Alexiadou, Julie Biuso, Annabel Langbein, Art Smith with family and friends, Marlena Spieler, Vangelis Driskas, Mrs. Jigyasa Giri and Dr. Pratibha Jain from India, Edmon Ho from Singapore. Our friend Chef Du was present everywhere, as well as our friends from Hainan. The awards show was the most glamorous ever, with fashion show, Kung fu, Chinese singing, filmed live for television.

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2008 London, United-Kingdom.

On April 13, 2008 at the “Gourmand Awards” in the Olympia Theatre in London, there were over 400 guests from 47 countries.
The Awards Ceremony included the awards and the presentation of the 19 Celebrity Chefs from 16 countries who gave cooking demonstrations at the London Book Fair
At the party after the Awards there was much celebrating, music by the 18 pieces Jazz Big Band of James O’Carroll, and dancing. There was also much business in foreign rights.
Photo: Edouard Cointreau.

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2009 Paris, France.

On July 1, 2009, La Comédie-Française was the host of the Gourmand Family for the Best in the World event.
The theater of Molière was full with 800 guests from 45 countries. After the Awards, the magnificient buffet was due to Le Cordon Bleu® with Champagne Gosset, Cognac Frapin and the wines of Baron Philippe de Rothschild. A special gift package for the event was given to all guests by Valrhona Chocolate.
Photo: © Cosimo Mirco Magliocca / Coll. Comédie-Française

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CONTACT

 

 

Edouard Cointreau Gourmand International
Pintor Rosales 50, 4°C
Madrid, 28008
Phone: +34-91- 541 67 68
Fax: +34-91- 541 68 21
E-Mail: pilar@gourmandbooks.com