Annually, food professionals gather to honour Canadian culinary writers and publishers when the Canadian Culinary Book Awards are presented in the autumn. Designed to recognize excellence and creativity in food and beverage writing and publishing, these awards also promote Canadian culinary food culture.
The awards were initiated by Cuisine Canada in 1998 under the leadership of Jo Marie Powers. In 2003 the University of Guelph Library joined as co-host. During these years, the contest has evolved to include three categories of books: The Canadian food culture category identifies culinary books about Canada's culinary history, ingredients and regional foodways; the cookbook category focuses upon recipe books; and the special interest category includes books that are about food and/or beverages. Gold and silver prizes are awarded in each category for both English-language and French-language books.