The shortlist for the 2017 André Simon Food and Drink Book Awards has just been released and appears below. The awards are administered by the trustees of the André Simon Memorial Fund, named after the great and notably literate gastronome profiled here in The Oxford Companion to Wine.
The judges, Sarah Jane Evans MW, David Gleave MW and food writer Xanthe Clay, chaired by one Nicholas Lander, were advised this year on food books by award-winning journalist Rachel Cooke of The Observer and, on drink books, by Joe Fattorini of The Wine Show (who wed this very morning, I happened to see on Twitter).
Only three of the six shortlisted drinks books are about wine, and all three will be reviewed by our brilliant book reviewer Tamlyn Currin next week. Tam's unparalleled wine book reviews will be published over the next three weeks, keeping you entertained over the Christmas holidays, we hope.
Shortlisted food books 2017
| Gather Cook Feast | Jessica Seaton & Anna Colquhoun | Fig Tree |
| Lisboeta | Nuno Mendes | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| The Case against Sugar | Gary Taubes | Portobello Books |
| The Meaning of Rice | Michael Booth | Jonathan Cape |
| The Palestinian Table | Reem Kassis | Phaidon Press |
| The Sportsman | Stephen Harris | Phaidon Press |
Shortlisted drink books 2017
| Bursting Bubbles | Robert Walters | Quiller Publishing |
| By the Smoke and the Smell | Thad Vogler | Ten Speed Press |
| Champagne | Peter Liem | Mitchell Beazley |
| Miracle Brew | Pete Brown | Unbound |
| The Way of Whisky | Dave Broom | Mitchell Beazley |
| The Wine Dine Dictionary | Victoria Moore | Granta Books |
To find out more, see the André Simon Awards website.