Saladino, Smith and Cermelj take home prizes at Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards

Dan Saladino, Ed Smith and Katarina Cermelj are among the winning authors of the annual Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. 

The awards celebrate the best writers and publishers working in food and drink and are now in their 10th year.  

Journalist Saladino won Food Book of the year for Eating to Extinction (Jonathan Cape), described as a “timely and captivating exploration of some of the world’s most endangered foods” from a tiny crimson pear in the west of England to an exploding corn from Mexico. 

Clare Finney and Liz Seabrook snapped up the Debut Food Book for The Female Chef (Hoxton Mini Press), which profiles 31 women at the forefront of modern British food and shares the stories and experiences that got them there.  

Ed Smith, a previous Cookery Writer award winner, received the best Cookery Book prize for Crave (Quadrille) a “unique and innovative book” of recipes arranged by their flavour profiles.  

In the Debut Cookery Book award, blogger and PhD chemistry student Katarina Cermelj triumphed with Baked to Perfection (Bloomsbury), which combines her knowledge of science and baking to demystify gluten-free baking.  

Jonny Garrett, a London-based beer writer, filmmaker and creator of YouTube’s Craft Beer Channel won the Drink Book category for A Year in Beer (CAMRA Books), for his work introducing readers to beer styles that best suit a particular season. Debut Drink Book was won by wine expert Amanda Barnes for The South America Wine Guide: The definitive guide to wine in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, a comprehensive book about the wine regions, producers and wines of South America published by The South America Wine Guide. 

This year’s ceremony was co-presented by Claudia Winkleman alongside chef and judging panel chair, Angela Hartnett OBE. The winners were selected by an independent, expert panel of judges including Alice Lascelles, Freddy Bulmer, Georgina Hayden, Jaega Wise, Mark Diacono and Tara Wigley. 

Cookery Writer went to Nicola Miller for her work in Suffolk News while Tim Hayward was awarded Food Writer of the year for his work in the FT Weekend Magazine. 

Maja Smend took home the Photographer award. Drink Writer went to Henry Jeffreys for work in The Fence Magazine and his platform World of Booze, while Grace Dent received the Restaurant Writer award for work in the Guardian Feast. The team at “The Kitchen Cabinet” hosted by Jay Rayner won the Radio Programme, which is produced for BBC Radio 4 by Somethin’ Else. The Podcast Award went to “Off Menu” with Ed Gamble and James Acaster produced by Plosive.  

Personalities of the Year winners were Si King and Dave Myers a.k.a The Hairy Bikers. The Digital Creator of the Year went to Max La Manna the zero-waste chef, author and host for BBC Earth food shows. Both categories are chosen by the public allowing fans from across the country to vote for their favourite foodies.