The Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, now in their ninth year, champion excellence in food and drink writing, publishing, broadcasting and photography. The Awards were presented in 2021 by Claudia Winkleman and Angela Hartnett (also the Judging Panel Chair) at a spectacular party at The Royal Exchange.
Winners included the ever-popular Tom Kerridge who scooped the Programme Award for the timely, critically-acclaimed Saving Britain’s Pubs by Bone Soup Productions.
Image: Luxuriate Life Magazine
The Judges’ Choice Award went to the doyenne of London’s dining scene, Fay Maschler, for her long-standing dedication to restaurant writing. Fay spent 48 years at the Evening Standard before taking on her latest role as a food writer for Tatler.
The Fortnum & Mason Special Award this year went to chef Larry Jayasekara who worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to feed the NHS. The Michelin-starred former head chef of Petrus led an army of chefs at Le Pont de la Tour, who together prepared over 1000 lunches a day for workers at University College Hospital.
Image: Luxuriate Life Magazine
Cumbrian farmer James Rebanks collected the Food Book for English Pastoral, his insightful and honest account of how he decided to farm in a more sustainable way. The book is a stirring history of family, loss and the countryside over three generations on a Lake District farm. The winner of the Debut Food Book went to fellow Cumbrian, and Guardian food writer and restaurant critic Grace Dent. Hungry is her tender and hilarious account of her journey from 1980s Carlisle to the world of London restaurants, it is her charming memoir to family, food and chip butties.
The Cookery Book went to Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley for Falastin, a lavish compendium celebrating the recipes, stories and people of Palestinian food. In the Debut Cookery Book category, pastry master and chef at the Holborn Dining Room collected the Award for his first book The Pie Room – a celebration of British pie classic sweet and savoury.
Food Writer went to Ruby Tandoh for work in Vittles, a food newsletter created at the start of the pandemic which has developed into growing global platform of food and drink writing. Georgina Hayden took the Cookery Writer Award for her work in Waitrose Food Magazine.
At the age of twenty-one Victoria James was named America’s youngest sommelier. Her memoir, Wine Girl, winner of the Drink Book is an unflinching account of life in New York’s glamourous, yet toxic, fine-dining world. Debut Drink Book was won by bartender Cas Oh for his book Co-Specs, an indispensable A-Z guide to classic cocktails which took five years to create.
Rob Lawson took home the Photographer award for his series of sensual drinks images inspired by the world of fragrance. Drink Writer went to Will Hawkes for work in Tonic Magazine and Pellicle, while Jimi Famurewa received the Restaurant Writer award for work in the Evening Standard’s ES magazine. Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co won the Radio/Podcast Award for their Food Talks series.
Personality of the Year was won by James Martin, chef and host of ITV’s Saturday Morning show and Digital Creator of the Year went to recipe site Pinch of Nom. Both categories are chosen by the public where fans from across the country vote for their favourite foodies.
2021 FOOD AND DRINK AWARDS WINNERS AND SHORTLISTEES:
FOOD BOOK
WINNER: English Pastoral: An Inheritance by James Rebanks, published by Allen Lane, Penguin Random House
SHORTLIST: Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes Through Central Asia, from Hinterland to Heartland by Caroline Eden, published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd
SHORTLIST: Loaf Story: A love-letter to bread, with recipes by Tim Hayward, published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd
DEBUT FOOD BOOK
WINNER: Hungry by Grace Dent, published by Mudlark, Harper Collins
SHORTLIST: Borough Market: Edible Histories by Mark Riddaway, published by Hodder & Stoughton
SHORTLIST: The Food Almanac: Recipes and Stories for a Year at the Table by Miranda York, published by Pavilion Books
COOKERY BOOK
WINNER: Falastin: A Cookbook by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley, published by Ebury Press
SHORTLIST: Jikoni by Ravinder Bhogal, published by Bloomsbury Publishing
SHORTLIST: Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules, published by Bloomsbury Publishing
SHORTLIST: Fire, Smoke, Green: Vegetarian barbecue, smoking and grilling recipes by Martin Nordin, published by Hardie Grant
DEBUT COOKERY BOOK
WINNER: The Pie Room by Calum Franklin, published by Bloomsbury Absolute
SHORTLIST: Parwana: Recipes and stories from an Afghan kitchen by Durkhanai Ayubi, published by Murdoch Books
SHORTLIST: The Rangoon Sisters: Recipes from our Burmese family kitchen by Amy Chung and Emily Chung, published by Ebury Press
DRINK BOOK
WINNER: Wine Girl by Victoria James, published by Little, Brown Book Group / Fleet imprint
SHORTLIST: How To Drink Without Drinking by Fiona Beckett, published by Kyle Books / Octopus
SHORTLIST: Inside Bordeaux by Jane Anson, published by Berry Bros. & Rudd Press
DEBUT DRINK BOOK
WINNER: CO SPECS: Recipes & Histories of Classic Cocktails by Cas Oh, published by Cazerac Publishing
SHORTLIST: Which Wine When by Bert Blaize and Claire Strickett, published by Ebury Press
SHORTLIST: Drink? by Professor David Nutt, published by Yellow Kite
FOOD WRITER
WINNER: Ruby Tandoh for work in Vittles
SHORTLIST: Yvonne Maxwell for work in Vittles
SHORTLIST: Olivia Potts for work in Longreads.com and The Spectator
COOKERY WRITER
WINNER: Georgina Hayden for work in Waitrose Food Magazine
SHORTLIST: Diana Henry for work in The Telegraph’s Stella magazine
SHORTLIST: Meera Sodha for work in The Guardian Feast
DRINK WRITER
WINNER: Will Hawkes for work in Pellicle Magazine and Tonic Magazine
SHORTLIST: Fiona Beckett for work in The Guardian Feast
SHORTLIST: Hamish Smith for work in CLASS Magazine
RESTAURANT WRITER
WINNER: Jimi Famurewa for work in Evening Standard ES Magazine
SHORTLIST: Tania Ballantine for work in Time Out London
SHORTLIST: Grace Dent for work in The Guardian Feast
PROGRAMME
WINNER: Saving Britain’s Pubs with Tom Kerridge, Bone Soup Productions
SHORTLIST: Great British Menu, Optomen Television Ltd
SHORTLIST: Nigella’s Cook, Eat, Repeat, BBC Studios Factual Entertainment
RADIO OR PODCAST
WINNER: Honey & Co: The Food Talks, Presenters: Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich. Producer: Miranda Hinkley
SHORTLIST: Root + Bone Podcast, Presenter: Tim Wild. Producer: Thomas Duncan
SHORTLIST: The Olive Magazine Podcast, Presenter: Janine Ratcliffe. Producer: Ben Youatt
PHOTOGRAPHER
WINNER: Rob Lawson
SHORTLIST: John Carey
SHORTLIST: Nassima Rothacker
PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
WINNER: James Martin
DIGITAL CREATOR
WINNER: Pinch of Nom
JUDGES’ CHOICE AWARD
FAY MASCHLER
FORTNUM & MASON SPECIAL AWARD
LARRY JAYASEKARA
Entries to the 2022 Awards will be open in December 2021.
To discover more, visit: fortnumandmason.com/awards
Imagery courtesy of Fortnum & Mason unless otherwise stated.
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