The cookbooks that got us through COVID-19
3 local culinary talents share their picks from 2020
IT WAS A year unlike any other: in 2020, people found themselves hoarding flour, sharing meals via Zoom, and making their own sourdough. To cope, we cooked.
Stir connected with three British Columbians who are fully immersed in the world of food to share their favourite cookbook of 2020.
tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand (House of Anansi Press)
Selected by Heat Laliberte, chef-owner of One Arrow Meats
“I met Shane at Salmon n’ Bannock last February for the World Chef Exchange: Indigenous culinary dinner Off the Hook",” says Laliberte, a Saskatchewan-born Indigenous chef whose One Arrow Meats specializes in small-batch, naturally smoked artisanal bacon. “In his book he shares phenomenal indigenous dishes inspired from childhood memories hunting with his father and gardening with his mother. My favourite was Chopped Bison with Nettle and Sunflower Pesto and the Rabbit in the Garden with Saskatoon Berry Vinaigrette.
“He also shares intimate details of his journey as an adopted child finding his roots as a member of the Enoch Cree Nation and his culinary journey from working at a truck-stop café to running his brigade at River Cree Resort & Casino. He’s been an inspiration to me—I’m adopted and Cree/Métis as well—and he’s at the forefront of the Indigenous progressive cuisine movement in Canada.”
Maenam: A Fresh Approach to Thai Cooking by Angus An (Appetite by Random House, pictured at top)
Selected by Ned Bell, executive chef and partner of Naramata Inn
“Angus An’s cookbook definitely deserves some love,” says Bell, founder of Chefs for Oceans.
Named after An’s modern Thai restaurant in Kitsilano, which he runs with his wife, Kate Auewattanakorn, the cookbook features more than 100 recipes that blend traditional ingredients and techniques with seasonal West Coast flavours. (An also owns and operates Sen Pad Thai; Longtail Kitchen; Fat Mao Noodles; and Freebird Chicken Shack, now out of Maenam; and is a partner of Popina Canteen and Popina Cantina on Granville Island.)
Green papaya salad, Panaeng curry, pad Thai, coconut-cream relish of fermented pork and spot-prawn tomalley, nahm dtok (grilled beef salad), scallop ceviche, coconut shave ice, uni sundae, squid-ink cupcakes, and more could be part of your repertoire.
You Wanna Piece of Me? More Than 100 Seriously Tasty Recipes for Sweet and Savory Pies by Jenell Parsons (Appetite by Random House)
Selected by Caren McSherry, chef-owner of the Gourmet Warehouse
The sparkplug local chef who is McSherry—who has written seven cookbooks—has several picks for 2020, of which the Pie Hole owner Parsons’ book is just one.
Also among McSherry’s picks are Baking Day With Anna Olson Recipes to Bake Together: 120 Sweet and Savory Recipes to Bake Together (Appetite by Random House); Ottolenghi Flavor: A Cookbook (Appetite by Random House); Mandy’s Gourmet Salads: Recipes for Lettuce and Life (Appetite by Random House) by Montreal’s Mandy Wolfe, Rebecca Wolfe, and Meredith Erickson; and L.A.-based “gastronaut” Bob Blumer’s Flavorbomb: A Rogue Guide to Making Everything Taste Better (Appetite by Random House)
Naturally, local offerings are high on McSherry’s list. In addition to You Wanna Piece of Me?, she recommends Maenam and David Hawksworth’s Hawksworth: the Cookbook (Appetite by Random House).
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