India is now part of the ten best cookbook countries in the world winning awards on 1 July 2009 in Paris at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Books from 102 countries submitted their entries this year for the Gourmand Awards. The winner of the Best in the World Book for Culinary History was Roli Book's The Emperor's Table: The Art of Mughal Cuisine by Salma Hussain. The first book of its kind showcasing the splendour of the Mughal table through miniature paintings, the book also won the Special Award of the Jury. There were 29 countries competing in this category.
Pure & Simple Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine by Vidhu Mittal received an Honourable Mention Best Easy Recipes Book in the World. This is today the strongest trend, with the largest demand across the world. There were 54 countries competing in this category.
Roli Books has been for years the leading publisher in India of illustrated books, often translated to other languages and distributed in many countries across the world.
The Emperor's Table: The Art of Mughal Cuisine
The Mughals gave India her greatest architectural monuments. They also transformed the country's cooking y intermingling Middle Eastern cuisine with Indian spices and ingredients to produce some of the most exquisite Mughlai food. This book not only traces the history of the Mughal emperors vis-à-vis their fondness for food and contribution to the growth of recipes, but is an engaging read on the role of each ruler's personal likes and dislikes as well as how this has shaped the course of food habits in India. The Emperor's Table: The Art of Mughal Cuisine is the first book of its kind offering the readers not only a mouth-watering selection of dishes ranging from soups and breads to exotic meat dishes, but also showcasing the splendour of the Mughal table through miniature paintings. The recipes have been selected from the original Persian manuscripts and books. They are lucidly explained and easy to follow. However, the recipes selected have been modified to an extent to suit the modern times.
Some of the spices not available then have been included to make the dishes tastier. The Emperor's Table: The Art of Mughal Cuisine revives the aroma and flavour of the royal days gone by and encourages us to enjoy their whiff once again!
Persian scholar and food connoisseur Salma Husain works for ITC Welcome-Group, New Delhi, as Food Consultant. She has translated several Persian texts into English. Salma Husain has also worked for the Archives of India as a research assistant, in All India Radio as a newsreader, and as Station Director in the External Services of All India Radio for the Afghanistan desk. She has also been associated with the tourism industry. She regularly contributes food-related articles to leading newspapers of the country.
Pure & Simple Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine
With step-by-step photographs for over 100 classic and contemporary vegetarian recipes, this book makes cooking absolutely easy. Whether whisking yoghurt to the correct consistency or kneading dough for bread, with these photographs you can check if you are achieving the right result at each stage. Apart from the recipes, the book provides much more. It includes information on spices, vegetables and kitchen tools; useful, handy tips, accompany each recipe; and a section dedicated to cooking processes helps the novice learn while the experienced cook refreshes her memory. Vidhu Mittal's Pure & Simple: Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine is an easy, innovative solution to great food, good health and wide variety.
Vidhu Mittal is a well-known culinary expert based in Bangalore, India. She has been conducting cookery classes for over 15 years besides making regular contributions to magazines and specialized websites.
Vidhu developed an interest in cooking very early in her life and what was a hobby became a passion that she loves sharing with others. A vegetarian, Vidhu has created a wide range of recipes that retain and enhance natural flavours, textures, colours, and above all, these recipes are simple and easy. Compared to traditional Indian cookery, which can sometimes be too rich and elaborate, her recipes are healthy and appealing. She has constantly been evolving her recipes and enjoys experimenting.
Vidhu graduated with Home Science as her major. She has a diploma in Fashion Designing and has travelled widely in India and abroad. She loves entertaining friends and family and enjoys playing bridge.
Gourmand World Cookbook 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 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 was organized from February 26 to 29, 2004.
The next event was in Orebro-Grythyttan, Seden, on February 11, 2005. After Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in May 2006, it was 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 held in London (May 2008).
This year the annual Gourmand Awards event held in Paris at the Comédie-Française, the historical theatre of Molière, on Wednesday July 1, 2009. Books from 102 countries submitted their entries this year for the Gourmand Awards. There are plans to come to India soon in the coming years.
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 cookbooks and winebooks: hundreds of publishers, authors, chefs and journalists take part in these events. The winners in each language are announced in November, and compete for the Best in the World, announced in April of the following year at a gala dinner.
Gourmand has created a wide spectrum of representation and entertainment with the awards ceremony: at the same moment glamorous and humorous, elegant and funny. The objectives of the Awards are to reward and honour those who "cook with words". The readers find the best out of the 26000 food and wine books produced every year, and publishers with international rights to translate and distribute food and wine books.
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