2020 Art of Eating Prize long list announced

The Art of Eating magazine first appeared in 1986 in the form of an eight-page black-and-white newsletter written by Edward Behr. After three decades in print, it transformed into a digital-only, advertising-free magazine with subscribers and contributors around the world. The magazine is about the best food and wine – what it is, how it is produced, and where to find it (farms, markets, shops, restaurants). For the past several years, The Art of Eating has offered a prize for the best food book of the year, and past winners include Bangkok by Leela Punyaratabandhu and The Aleppo Cookbook by Marlene Matar. The magazine has just announced its 2020 long list of nominees.

We’re getting a baker’s dozen this year, with 13 books instead of the usual twelve. Most are cookbooks, but there are also a couple of memoirs and one on artificial meat. The topics cover a wide variety of cuisines and subjects, and feature some of the best books from last year. Judging this year’s competition are culinary luminaries like Julia Bainbridge, Edward Lee, Harold McGee, Helen Rosner, and Frank Stitt.

This list will be narrowed to six finalists to be announced February 11. The winner of the $10,000 USD grand prize will be announced two weeks later. EYB Members will recognize many of the cookbooks as they are featured in our year-end “best of” lists.  Here is the list of the cookbooks in the group:

• Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light by Caroline Eden 
• Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa by Yohanis Gebreyesus 
• The Gaijin Cookbook: Japanese Recipes from a Chef, Father, Eater, and Lifelong Outsider by Ivan Orkin and Chris Yang 
• Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin
• Let’s Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan
• Mercados: Recipes from the Markets of Mexico by David Sterling
• My Mexico City Kitchen: Recipes and Convictions by Gabriela Camara and Malena Watrous 
• Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
• Hummus: On the Hummus Route: A Journey Between Cities, People, and Dreams by Ariel Rosenthal, Orley Peli-Bronshstein, and Dan Alexander
• The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think by Josh Niland
• Zaitoun: Recipes and Stories from the Palestinian Kitchen by Yasmin Khan