THE bestselling cookbook of celebrity chef Tatung Sarthou was named “Best in the World,” Nov. 30 (Dec. 1, PH time) in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
Chef Tatung’s mother, Juliana Atillo-Schlotterbeck, received two awards for “Simpol: The Cookbook,” in a ceremony held at Réfectoire des Cordeliers on Rue de l’École de Médecine.
“Simpol” shared the Celebrity Chef-World award with esteemed authors Cuban Yeikel Santos, Japanese Harumi Kurihara, and Canadian Bob Blumer. Meanwhile, Chef Tatung tied with Matevs Kmet of Slovenia for the Easy Recipes at Home category.
“It is an honor to be among the giants of food writing,” said Chef Tatung.
“I am humbled to represent our country, the Philippines, in its rightful place on the global stage. I am determined to continue sharing the rich flavors and stories of Philippine cuisine to international readers.
“Simpol: The Cookbook” is now on its seventh printing since its launch last November 2020. It contains over 101 recipes that can easily be executed using familiar ingredients and basic kitchen equipment. Each recipe also has illustrations and a counterpart QR code that leads to an online instructional video by Chef Tatung. All these features make home cooking uniquely simple.
Simpol led awardees from the Philippines, which also include “Managing a Food Safe Kitchen” by Maya Kitchen Culinary Arts Center for the Cooking Schools / Education category and “Mesa ni Misis” by Juana Yupangco for the Vegetarian category.
These titles have previously won the national award that qualified them to the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
A total of 80 countries and regions vied in the 25th edition of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, considered as the Olympics of culinary content.
Chef Tatung has earned the same recognition in 2017 for his debut title, “Philippine Cookery: From Heart to Platter,” for the First Cookbook category.
He has recently launched two follow-up works to “Simpol,” “Simpol Kitchen Secrets” and “Baking Simpol.” These will be available through Lazada, Shopee, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Amazon SG and eBay.
Chef Tatung currently writes as a columnist for SunStar Superbalita, and was a former writer and photographer for SunStar Weekend. (PR)