Cookbook shortlisted for global award

A cookbook by Shetland author Marian Armitage has made the best local cuisine book shortlist at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

In December Shetland Food and Cooking was hailed the best Scottish cookbook of 2015, qualifying it for the best local cuisine book longlist alongside publications from 208 other countries.

Mrs Armitage’s text has now made it through the initial round of cuts to be featured in the 13 book shortlist. Winners will be announced in May at an award ceremony held in Yantai, a city in northeast China.

Shetland Food and Cooking is the first publication by the retired teacher who splits her time between London and Shetland. It features a number of recipes including traditional Shetland favourites and international dishes which take inspiration from Shetland’s local produce.

Mrs Armitage was also recently unveiled as the chairwoman for the new Shetland Food and Drink Association. Her appointment, coupled with the success of her book, has given Mrs Armitage a chance to share her passion for Shetland dishes and produce with a wider market.

She said: “I’m really delighted because it can only make Shetland produce kent by a wider audience.

“As the chairwoman of the Shetland Food and Drink Association that is my main mission.”

She added that to make it to the shortlist was “a huge honour”.

Mrs Armitage will be in Shetland next week to start planning for this year’s Shetland Food Fair, which will be held from Friday 28th October

to Sunday 30th October.

She says she has been settling into her new role and has found that the organisation has received “a lot of goodwill and lot of enthusiasm.”

“It has been very encouraging” she added.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded by Édouard Cointreau, of the famous drink brand, in 1995. In this year’s competition cookbooks from over 200 countries were in the running.