Galway chef and author Michael O’Meara's book Sea Gastronomy: Fish and Shellfish of the North Atlantic has been named Cookbook of the Year by John and Sally McKenna of McKenna's Guides.
“I am absolutely thrilled and honoured with this award," Mr O'Meara said. "It is especially pleasing to receive the award from McKenna's Guides whose objectivity and knowledge of the culinary environment is so highly respected among their peers. It is an acknowledgement of the commitment and dedication given by a team of people with whom I am pleased to share this honour."
In announcing the award, the McKenna's Guides noted: “Michael O’Meara’s Sea Gastronomy isn’t just a cookbook from one of the west coast’s most stimulating cooks. It’s actually a life’s work, of study and learning and cooking, poured into 440 beautiful pages packed with information and dedication. We want to see megrim and sweaty betty on every Irish menu, and Sea Gastronomy may well be the book to do just that.”
Vincent Murphy, creative director of publisher Artisan House, conveyed the company's delight at the announcement of the award. “Somewhere in the region of 16,000 cookbooks were published in Ireland and the UK in 2015 — a competitive field to say the least — so it is very encouraging to see our title Sea Gastronomy rise to the top in this field," he said. "We are also delighted that this is a book developed and created in Connemara and in Galway and it demonstrates that work of a high standard is not reliant on a central base.”
Since its launch in October 2015, Sea Gastronomy has been receiving widespread critical acclaim as an encyclopaedia of information on seafood, and a stunningly beautiful illustrated book containing 220 recipes on more than 110 seafood species with some 380 beautiful colour photographs.
Georgina Campbell described Sea Gastronomy as “an outstanding work … surely destined to take its place alongside classics like Alan Davidson’s North Atlantic Seafood (1979 ) and Rich Stein’s English Seafood Cookery (1988 ) as a game changer in the way we understand, value, and cook with the treasures of the ocean.”
Sea Gastronomy is available nationwide through Dubray, Eason, Waterstones, Hodgis Figgis, independent bookshops, and it is also available from Oscar's Seafood Bistro in Galway or online from Artisan House at www.artisanhouse.ie RRP is €30.
