Iconic Maltese Recipes Help Blogger Win ‘Oscar Of Cookbooks’
Internationally-renowned German blogger and food writer Meike Peters has just won the James Beard Award for General Cooking, an award which is known as the ‘Oscar of Cookbooks’. And thanks to her partner Jamie, who is half-Maltese and half-American, Meike’s award-winning cookbook, Eat In My Kitchen: to Cook, to Bake, to Eat and to Treat, includes some of Malta’s most iconic recipes.
Meike’s cookbook includes recipes for minestra, Gozitan pizza, lemon ricotta cannoli, tuna and spinach pie, and pudina, all with a beautiful personalised touch straight from the blogger’s own heritage.
“I met Jamie while he was touring in Germany with Ira Losco, which I was overseeing,” says Meike, who now considers Malta her second home. “When I came to visit, I was totally mesmerised by the amazing ways things like fennel seeds, citrus fruit, coriander seeds and orange blossom water were used, and I now include them in a variety of recipes to create a fusion of cuisines.”
In fact, the book features six ‘Meet In Your Kitchen’ features, including one with the Ċini family from Gozo, who have been harvesting salt from Xwejni Bay for generations.
The James Beard Awards were established in 1990, and honour excellence in cuisine, culinary writing and education. The James Beard Award is considered the world’s most prestigious cookbook award, and Meike’s win saw her beating the likes of world-famous celebrity chef Ina Garten.
“When they called out my name, I just froze,” Meike said of the awards night. “It felt unreal; I couldn’t believe it… we couldn’t believe that we had done it!”
More information about Meike and her recipes can be found on her blog.
All photos were taken by Meike herself.
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