Chef and actor Matty Matheson among shortlisted writers for 2025 Taste Canada Awards
The awards celebrate Canada’s best cookbooks and food-related stories of the year
Ontario chef and actor Matty Matheson is among the nominees for the 2025 Taste Canada Awards.
The Taste Canada Awards annually celebrate the year's best in Canadian food writing. The prizes are awarded across five English-language and five French-language categories.
Matheson is shortlisted in the general cookbooks category for Matty Matheson: Soups, Salads, Sandwiches.
In the cookbook, he explores the food staples of soups, salads and sandwiches and reflects on why they matter today. The work uses wit, humour, personal stories to put a modern twist on classic recipes and dishes.
Matheson is a writer, chef and executive producer and actor on the television show The Bear. He owns Cassoulet Palace Inc. and is a partner in Our House H.C., Blue Goose Farm, Rosa Rugosa, Matheson Cookware and Matheson Food Company. He lives in Ridgeway, Ont.
Other notable nominees are Justin Giovannetti Lamothe for his book Poutine, about his father-son quest to find out the dish's origins; and andrea bennett, for Hearty, an essay collection that explores bennett's love and appreciation for food as someone who's worked in the industry for decades.
They are both shortlisted in the culinary narratives category.
The complete list of English-language nominees are below.
Culinary Narratives
- Dining Out with History by Jan Feduck
- Foraging as a Way of Life by Mikaela Cannon
- Hearty by andrea bennett
- Poutine by Justin Giovannetti Lamothe
- Walk, Eat, Repeat by Lindy Mechefske
General Cookbooks
- Chuck's Home Cooking by Chuck Hughes
- Cook with Confidence by Dennis Prescott
- Heydays at The June Motel by Freddy Laliberté and Evan Baulch
- Matty Matheson: Soups, Salads, Sandwiches by Matty Matheson
- The Side Gardener by Rosie Daykin
Regional/Cultural Cookbooks
- Souk to Table by Amina Al-Saigh
- The Depanneur Cookbook by Len Senater
- The Route to Parsi Cooking by Niloufer Mavalvala
- Tiffy Cooks: 88 Easy Asian Recipes from My Family to Yours by Tiffy Chen
- Zaatari by Karen E. Fisher
Single-Subject Cookbooks
- Epiphany Bakes by Melissa Owen
- Kitten and the Bear Cookbook by Sophie Kaftal and Bobby Zielinski
- Milk Into Cheese by David Asher
- Nature's Candy by Camilla Wynne
- The Book of Sandwiches by Jason Skrobar
Health or Special Diet Cookbooks
- Good Food, Good Mood by Tamara Green and Sarah Grossman
- Meals That Heal Inflammation by Julie Daniluk
- Plant Magic. A Celebration of Plant-Based Cooking for Everyone by Desiree Nielsen
- The Artful Way to Plant-Based Cooking by Chloé Crane-Leroux &Trudy Crane
- The Feel-Good Meal Plan by Lindsay Pleskot
The shortlists were chosen by a jury of volunteers from the culinary industry.
The winners will be announced in the fall.
