HISTORY
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
- The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. Every year, they honour the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television.
- In 2017, books from 215 countries and regions participate in these prestigious awards, the only international competition of the sector. It is free, and open to all languages.
- Every year, Gourmand gives the awards in a very special location for gastronomy. The Ceremony is always an opportunity to meet every important person in the world of food and books: hundreds of publishers, authors, chefs and journalists take part in these events.
- The Gourmand Awards have been compared to the “Oscars” for film. They are inspired by the Olympic Games and their spirit.
- We reward now all food and drinks content, in print or digital, paid or free, private or public, trade publishers or self published, big or small, with an equal chance for everyone.
- The Gourmand Awards are a unique opportunity to build the image of the food culture in a country, show the world its spirit. For instance Yantai is the birthplace of Shandong food, one of the four main cuisines of China. Yantai is also the capital of wine in China.
The history of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards is parallel to the history of cookbook publishing in the past 20 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.
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2018Frankfurt, GermanyFrom October 11 to 14, the Gourmet Gallery will again be the center of the fair both for business and pleasure. During the first three trade days, incredible business in foreign rights and new projects take place. Then during the weekend, the crowdsfrom the public seem to want to buy as much food and wine as possible. The number of interviews with lifestyle journalists increase every year, because there is so much trade and public interest. |
2018Beijing, ChinaFrom August 22 to 26, 2018, BIBF will be bigger than ever. We add tourism stands in our area for food and wine. China is number one in the world for the number of tourists international travel, and food is a leading criteria. The Beijing market is a leader, both for young professionals and affluent seniors, who are the bulk of the over 300.000 visitors of visitors to the fair. The trade in foreign rights and copyrights is also huge for professionals. Ask for our 8 pages BIBF brochure in English. |
2018Yantai, ChinaFor the fourth time, the Gourmand Awards come back to Yantai, for an all day awards ceremony on Saturday May 26, 2018. We will have 5 days of food and culture events, with banquets every night. It has to be experienced, to understand how it can become the best week in the life of the participants, and change lives. The networking is intense, and the start of many new friendships. There is much fun, business, and pleasure. It is unique. |
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2017Frankfurt, GermanyWe organize again the International Gourmet Gallery at the Frankfurt Book Fair October 11-15. It is the biggest book trade fair in the world as well as a major event for culture. We have many stands, food products and wine tastings and sales, a show kitchen , conferences. France is the Guest Country, with a focus on gastronomy. It is the world center for the foreign rights trade. We help Gourmand Awards winners to make contacts . We have not missed one fair since 1989, and founded the awards there in 1995. We have multiplied by 3 the space of the Gourmet Gallery since 2015. Hanban Confucius Institute has the largest stand with 100 m2 , showing the importance of Food Culture. |
2017Beijing, ChinaWe have a five year contract to organize the new Food and Wine Gallery of the Beijing Internatiomal Book Fair BIBF It was August 23-27, 2017 . It is the biggest book trade fair in Asia, with 300.000 visitors. We have publishers stands, a show kitchen, a wine masterclass theater, food products and wine stands with tastings and sales, conferences, and a cookbook foreign rights business center. Nearly all China publishers are present, as well as many publishers from Japan, South Korea, and all South East Asia. We help Gourmand Awards winners to make contacts. |
2017Yantai, ChinaThe awards event comes back to Yantai, China, May 27-28. We have two new hotels, the five stars Hilton, with 404 rooms, within walking distance from our event, on the Golden Beach, next to the curved Tianma pier on the sea. The other new hotel is four stars, The Tianma Central Plaza Hotel, ten minutes away, in the center of the shopping center of our district. We have special low group rates at these hotels We will have a Peru day, with a Pachamanca barbecue dinner. banquet. The Loire Valley City of Angers will celebrate its wines and food during another entire day, to honor its sister city of Yantai. |
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2016Yantai, ChinaThe awards come back to Yantai, in the same location, May 27-30. The date is earlier than the previous year to have lower temperatures, with less humidity.There will be 2 separate ceremonies May 28 for Wine and Drinks, May 29 for Food and Cookbooks. |
2015Yantai, ChinaYantai is the birthplace of the Shandong cuisine, one of the 4 main cuisines of China. Yantai is the capital of wine in China. It is also the leading sea resort. For the first time the awards ceremonies were outdoors. A gigantic stage was set up in the beautiful gardens of Tianma Yantai Wine Bay, by the Golden Beach. The weather was tropical and great for visitors from the North, such as our Lapland and Swedish guests. The wine and drink awards were June 8, the food and cookbook awards June 9. The event was fabulous and unforgettable, with 1/3 of the guests staying 3 days or less, 1/3 staying for 4-5 days, and 1/3 for 6 or more days.There were banquets every night for 8 days. |
2014Beijing, ChinaOn May 20 and 21, 2014 the two awards events at the Beijing Daxing theater awards attracted a total of 1200 guests, a truly international audience, with many Chinese, and foreigners coming from Europe 36%, Asia- Pacific 31%, Latin America 19 %, USA - Canada 11%, and Africa 3%. Food is now a very important component for the image of countries, and 36 embassies were present, with six ambassadors getting on the stage. There were spectacular dancing and music, from all continents, from China, Colombia and Samoa. The awards celebrations continued late into the night! |
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2013Paris, FranceOn February 23, 2013 we filled to capacity the 1050 seats of the Awards dinner at Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, at the center of world culture.. The president of honour was Alistair Burtenshaw, previous director of the London Book Fair. Star guests were Jancis Robinson for wine, Claudia Roden, Anne Willan, Nicholas Lander, Tony Le Duc, three stars chef Guy Savoy, food television leaders Geoffrey Drummond, Chef Wan, Jeroen Meus, Chakall, Annabel Langbein, Mocomishi Hayami, Stalic Khankishiev, and Wu ZhiHong. There were some very emotional moments, with Birthe Lyngaard from Denmark,our youngest winner ever Josh Thirion from South Africa, Sarah Lilford from Zimbabwe and Ska Mirriam Moteane from Lesotho. Food and Wine culture is now truly respected worldwide. |
2012Paris, FranceOn March 6, 2012, we fill up again Les Folies Bergere to complete capacity. The front rows have many ambassadors. The star is Francisco Fantini from Chile with his team of Gourmet Patagonia, the Best Book of the Year. He spoke for everyone when he explained the importance of the event, “ A book is an everlasting message “. This is the most emotional and fun awards event up to then, showing that the guests do not know in advance if they are going to win. They are so happy, often so overwhelmed they cannot speak, laugh and cry.tears off joy. Television stars Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma from India thrilled the audience with their sense of humor and energy. China became the winner of more awards than ever.. Antigua and Panama came to the stage for the first time. For drinks, craft beer is honoured with Coreff from Brittany in France. The winebook awards show that wine tourism and climate change are the two main issues worldwide for the sector. |
2011Paris, FranceOn March 3, 2011, we had a record number of guests, 1250 at Theatre Folies Bergère, the glamorous shrine of Maurice Chevalier and Josephine Baker. 28% of the guests came from outside Europe, and 50% from Europe except France. New Zealand celebrated the best Book of the Year, Me’a Kai. We had an ovation for Tunisian Zouhair Ben Jemaa and Mediterranean cookery. The wines were from André Lurton, Champagne Gosset and Cognac Frapin. Both the Awards event and Paris Cookbook Fair doubled the number of professionals guests. |
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2010Paris, FranceOn February 11, 2010, we had two consecutive Awards celebrations at Le104, the new Artistic Centre of The City of Paris. The first was for the cookbooks, the second for the wine books. The stars were Claudia Roden and Harumi Kurihara. The Awards launched the first Paris Cookbook Fair. The combination of the Awards event and the Cookbook Fair really worked.The following days had record cold, with much snow in Paris. It was beautiful and festive. |
2009Paris, FranceOn 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 Château Maison-Blanche. A special gift package for the event was given to all guests by Valrhona Chocolate. Photo: © Cosimo Mirco Magliocca / Coll. Comédie-Française |
2008London, United-KingdomOn 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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2007Beijing, ChinaBeijing, 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. |
2006Kuala 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. |
2005Grythyttan, SwedenGrythyttan, 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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2004Barcelona, SpainGourmand 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. |
2003Loire Valley, AngersChateau 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. |
2001SorgesThe 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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2000PerigueuxOn 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 |
1999VersaillesIt 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. |
1998PerigueuxThe 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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1997ParisThanks 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 |
1996FrankfurtThe 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. |
1995FrankfurtCookbooks 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. |
The Gourmand Awards are the major Food Culture event in the world.
They started in 1995 for cookbooks and wine books, at Frankfurt Book Fair. They now include all Food Culture content. The Gourmand Awards are open to all, big or small, print or digital, for sale or for free, with or without ISBN, trade or self published, private or public, in any language. It is free to participate, anyone can send entries. There is no comparable international cultural event in the world, except the Olympics. We are inspired by the Olympic spirit.
1- The countries
This year we had entries from 215 countries and regions. There are 193 countries in the United Nations. For the Finalists, we have considerably reduced from the entries the number of countries, and entries. There are now Finalists for Food from a total of 134 countries (116 UN members) and regions. There are 40 countries and regions for Drinks.
2- Categories
There are 100 categories for Food, 30 for Drinks. This is necessary to reflect the wide diversity of world food culture. It gives a chance to many countries to win in a category. In the Olympic games, they have 303 competitions/categories for 202 countries. On our list our finalists, we have 130 categories for 134 countries and regions. In total, there are 1372 entries now finalist, 1144 for food, and 228 for drinks. This represents less than 3% of the total of similar books and other formats published and available every year. It is a major achievement to be on this list of Finalists. There are 67% of the categories with 12 or less finalists, 26% with 13 to 19 finalists, and 7% with 20 to 30 finalists.
3- Trends
Food Culture is now taken very seriously by most governments and individuals. Food is at the heart of the issues of our future, collectively and individually.Trends in Food and Drinks culture are now global, everywhere in the world, which this list of finalists makes very clear. We see six major trends, combining or competing at a different pace in different countries, with change accelerating:
- Tourism is becoming the force driving food culture. Food is the first positive criteria and motivation generally, for 35%, up from 25% fifteen years ago. We have 160 entries for tourism (12%). See our categories B15, B17, B21, W1-8, W1-12.
- Social media and television continue to expand the food culture market, helping print. See our categories A07, A08, A09, A13, B18, B19.
- Health and Nutrition have joined with Ethics and Environmental concerns, spreading the same issues worldwide. For instance Vegan has become mainstream in very few years, everywhere. See our categories D01, D02, D08, D09, E06, E13.
- Local has become the key word. There is a major effort everywhere to save local food culture, and transmit it. It is helped by tourism and the locavore trends. Slow Food has won. See our categories C01, D05, D07.
- Quick and easy comfort food is still very important, especially in Asia. See our category E01. In 1995, when we started, this was the leading category.
- Children and Family food books are rapidly expanding. See categories D03, D11.
- There are minor new trends starting now Sports and Food, see D13.
- Seniors and food, see D12 Breakfast, see E15.
- Embassies and Gastro Diplomacy, see F08.
4- Digital
We have 19 categories (15%) exclusively for digital, with 195 digital entries now finalists (15%). You can find in the list of Finalists approximately 50 free Food and Wine PDF to download, selected for their quality, nearly all produced by public institutions. Unfortunately, they tend to disappear quickly, so do not be surprised if you cannot find them. We cannot help. See categories A06 for FAO, UN-IOM, UNDEP-Canada, UNESCO, UNWTO or B17, W1-12. For cookbook professional online newsletters, see B03.
5- The next step
The Best in the World will be announced in Yantai, China at the Gourmand Awards annual event May 25-28, 2018. The top 3 in each category will have the right to Best in the World. We do not announce results before the event. It is not necessary to attend to win. Apart from the honors at the event, the major opportunity is meeting the other participants, for business and pleasure. As previous participants have written, it may be the best four days of your life if you participate. Guests from over 60 countries had already indicated they wanted to come as of January 12, 2018. There are among them 81 guests who have already been at our events in Yantai. They come back even if they have no entry in the competition, it is so important for networking, business, and food culture.