Local chef Antonieta Manhão won prizes for Best Trilingual Cookbook and Best Portuguese Cookbook for her book Receita Di Casa: Homemade Macanese Cuisine at the 31st Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. This year’s awards took place from 27 to 30 November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Published earlier this year, Receita Di Casa is presented in Chinese, English, and Portuguese. It compiles 19 traditional oral recipes of Macanese cuisine, which is listed on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Manhão, who attended the ceremony with her editorial team, expressed pride that the awards are propelling Macanese cuisine onto the world stage. “It gives a tremendous boost to promoting our cuisine beyond Macao,” she said, hoping the recognition would introduce these flavours to new audiences, including in the Middle East.
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Editor Dorris Lei Sok Man stated the team hopes the accolade will encourage more Macanese families to preserve their scattered, oral recipes. The win is seen as a significant step in strengthening the documentation of Macau’s culinary heritage and bolstering its status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.
The jury praised the work as an exemplary cultural cookbook, successfully blending practical recipes with historical authenticity. They commended its role in documenting intangible heritage and making the cuisine accessible to cooks of all skill levels.
Founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the Oscars of the culinary publishing world. This free, international competition honours the best food and wine content – from books, digital media to television – from over 200 countries and regions, in all languages.
