A cookbook published by Signs Publishing Company in Warburton was named Best in the World at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards on 19 June.
Food As Medicine: Cooking to Prevent and Treat Diabetes by Sydney-based dietitian Dr Sue Radd was awarded best cookbook in the Health Professionals Books category, beating out shortlisted books from France, Mexico, Portugal and Spain.
Signs Publishing Company manager Andrew Irvine represented the publisher at the award ceremony and said the award was a testament to the hard work put into the book by Dr Radd and the Signs Publishing team.
“There were many excellent books in this category, so this award is extra special and a credit to both Sue’s significant efforts and the work of the Signs team who were involved in publishing this book,” Mr Irvine said.
The award citation for the book labelled it an “empowering and science-backed guide” that offered a practical and inspiring approach to diabetes.
It joins the original Food As Medicine cookbook which also won a similar award in 2017.
An accredited practising dietitian and senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, Dr Sue Radd said a “huge amount of work” had been poured into the book.
“Honestly, I liken it to doing a masters, because it’s not just an ordinary cookbook,” Dr Radd said.
“The recipe development alone takes a lot of time. It also uses a lot of the latest scientific findings that we’ve acquired or we’ve gleaned about different food combinations.”
It took Dr Radd and her team several years to analyse all the literature published on food and how it interacts with the body.
“These recipes actually have to give back. They have to love you back when you eat them,” she said.
The cookbook is packed with valuable information on nutrition, delivered in bite-sized, easy-to-digest messages (no pun intended).
Dr Radd said she chose the small, Warburton-based Signs Publishing Company because she felt as if it would be good to give a smaller publisher a chance to publish something it might not have published otherwise.
“Previously I had published with large mainstream publishers in Australia and overseas,” Dr Radd said.
“Signs [Publishing] is more of a boutique publisher, and it’s a Christian publishing group, and I’m also a Christian,” she said.
Signs Publishing Company has been based in Warburton since 1906.
It continues to publish and distribute a range of books that promote healthy living, wholistic wellbeing and positive relationships.
The 30th Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were presented as part of the Cascais World Food Summit in Portugal.
