We welcome you to the André Simon Food and Drink book awards longlist for 2020
Due to the increased volume of submissions and the exceptional quality of writing, we are delighted to announce a longlist of books for the first time in the history of the awards. This comes on the 50th anniversary of André Simon's death in 1970. A shortlist will be announced in the New Year.
These longlisted books celebrate the best of contemporary food and drink writing and were selected from over 170 submissions. This year's panel was guided by independent assessors: Food Editor of The Sunday Times and private chef Lisa Markwell for the food books and wine expert and restaurateur John Hoskins MW for the drink books.
The longlisted food books for 2020 are:
- The Pie Room
by Calum Franklin (Bloomsbury Absolute)
- Jikoni
by Ravinder Bhogal (Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Summer Kitchens
by Olia Hercules (Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Entangled Life
by Merlin Sheldrake (Bodley Head)
- Falastin: A Cookbook
by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley (Ebury Press)
- The Chicken Soup Manifesto
by Jenn Louis (Hardie Grant)
- The Whole Chicken
by Carl Clarke (Hardie Grant)
- Nose Dive
by Harold McGee (John Murray)
- Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet
by Tom Hunt (Kyle Books)
- Oats in the North, Wheat from the South
by Regula Ysewijn (Murdoch Books)
- Parwana
by Durkhanai Ayubi (Murdoch Books)
- Salmon
by Mark Kurlansky (Oneworld)
- Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook
by Annie Gray (Profile Books)
- Red Sands
by Caroline Eden (Quadrille)
- Spoon-Fed
by Tim Spector (Jonathan Cape)
The longlisted drink books for 2020 are:
- On Bordeaux
by Multiple (Académie du Vin Library)
- Inside Bordeaux: the châteaux, their wines and the terroir
by Jane Anson (Berry Bros. & Rudd Press)
- Which Wine When
by Bert Blaize & Claire Strickett (Ebury Press)
- The Wines of Georgia
by Lisa Granik (Infinite Ideas)
- Wine Girl
by Victoria James (Little, Brown)
- Wine from Another Galaxy: Noble Rot
by Dan Keeling & Mark Andrew (Quadrille)
- Intoxicating: Ten Drinks that Shaped Australia
by Max Allen (Thames & Hudson Australia)
NICK LANDER
CHAIRMAN
Nick Lander, Chair of the André Simon Memorial Fund, commented:
"We were overwhelmed by the high quality of books this year and felt inspired to create a longlist to highlight even more talented authors than ever before. At a time where we can't travel, this year's food books take us around the world: from Afghanistan (Parwana) to Central Asia (Red Sands) as well as revisiting the comfort of classic recipes like chicken soup (The Chicken Soup Manifesto) and great British baking (Oats in the North, Wheat from the South). The drinks' books have been heavily wine-focussed and include guides for beginners (Which Wine When / Wine from Another Galaxy) and a personal memoir celebrating the restorative power of a glass of wine with friends (Wine Girl).
This year, Britain has rediscovered home cooking with a fifth of Brits now making every meal from scratch and widening their repertoire of recipes since lockdown. This means that great food and drink writing is even more important and we feel honoured to be able to support our writers and industry."
PAST AWARD WINNERS
2019 Award Winners
Food:
The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think
by Josh Niland
Drink:
The World Atlas of Wine (8th Edition)
by Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson
The John Avery award:
Tokyo Stories: A Japanese Cookbook
by Tim Anderson
Special Commendation:
The Turkish Cookbook
by Musa Dağdeviren
See all Past Award Winners »