Canadian Foodies Miffed Over Phaidon Book Snub

It looks like we’re not making any more friends in the Canadian culinary scene. According to The Guardian, a number of folks north of the border are up in arms over the upcoming release of Coco from Phaidon Books. The coffee-table book (with recipes? I can’t tell) offers “100 emerging culinary stars chosen by 10 of the world’s greatest chefs” – with Canadian chefs curiously absent from the list. A slight oversight or a lack of stand-out Canadian culinary stars?

Chef and food writer Shaun Smith decided to take matters into his own hands, leading a culinary opposition to the book. Smith began a campaign to include at least one Canadian chef in the book by submitting a letter to Phaidon in mid-July signed by twenty-three top chefs, including Susur Lee, a favorite of Chef Ming Tsai.

I have tremendous respect for all of these curators. The reason for this gap is not entirely clear. They managed to find five deserving Australians, so surely they could have found at least one Canuck.

With GrubStreet reporting that the list for the book had been closed at the end of July, it looks like Smith and his backers may be out of luck. Boo! GrubStreet also points out that the ten chefs chosen to determine the list of 100 weren’t exactly unbiased with their choices, with Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali choosing a few of their current and former chefs.

~Jennifer Heigl

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