I have some very exciting news: A Dark History of Sugar did not only get nominated for the Guild of Food Writers’ Awards 2023 in the Best First Book category, but it also won! Bloody hell!
The other nominees in the category were Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives by Genevieve Jenner and Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee; both brilliant books so I certainly did not expect to win.
Some past podcast guests were there at the ceremony: Diane Purkiss, who appeared on the podcast recently to talk about her book English Food: A People’s History won her category Best Food Book. Nominated in that same category was Felicity Cloake for her brilliant breakfast Odyssey Red Sauce, Brown Sauce. Scroll to the foot of the post to listen to those podcast episodes.
It was a fantastic night. The awards were hosted by chef and Saturday Kitchen presenter Matt Tebbutt, and the award itself was sponsored by the excellent Sea Sisters. Collecting the award was all a bit of a blur as the adrenaline was pumping somewhat, but the guild just released the official photographs (taken by Martin Behrman) so there is actual evidence of it occurring! There were some food-writing royalty at the ceremony too in the shape of Dames Mary Berry and Delia Smith. I was starstruck, let me tell you.
Although I am still reeling, I need to crack on with writing the current book. One shouldn’t rest on one’s laurels now, should they? I’ll be back with a proper blog post soon. Cheerio! x
British Food: A History 