Here your consideration is a smorgasbord of top notch books on the culinary arts, as chosen by the prestigious James Beard Foundation for their annual James Beard Awards.

Listed below are the award winners that we currently own at Halifax Public Libraries. For a full listing of all the winners, please see the James Beard Foundation’s website.
Please note that we do not own the winner of the Cookbook of the Year category, Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold. Why not you might ask? It is six volumes, 2400+ pages and and lists for $635.00. Yikes!

2012 James Beard Foundation Book Awards:
Writing and Literature

Blood, Bones & Butter: the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef (M)
by Gabrielle Hamilton
Single Subject

All About Roasting: a new approach to a classic art (M)
by Molly Stevens
American Cooking
A New Turn in the South: southern flavors reinvented for your kitchen (M)
by Hugh Acheson
Beverage

Bitters: a spirited history of a classic cure-all, with cocktails, recipes, & formulas (M)
by Brad Thomas Parsons
General Cooking
Ruhlman’s Twenty: the ideas and techniques that will make you a better cook (M)
by Michael Ruhlman
Baking and Dessert

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home (M)
by Jeni Britton Bauer
Focus on Health

Super Natural Every Day: well-loved recipes from my natural foods kitchen (M)
by Heidi Swanson

International
The Food of Morocco (M)
by Paula Wolfert

Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2012/05/best-of-culinary-arts.html