2010Book Reviews

• 1 . Cookbook for Wounded Wins Gourmand Award

• Food for Heroes, the official cook book of the Help For Heroes charity, has won The UK’s Best Fund Raising Book Award in the international Gourmand Competition to find the world’s best food publications.
  The celebrity cook book, which was created by a group of RAF servicemen and women to raise money for their war-injured military colleagues, has been voted the UK’s top charity cook book and will now go on to the world finals.
  Published by independent UK publisher Accent Press and written by Squadron Leader Jon Pullen, Food for Heroes features contributions from more than 100 celebrities, top chefs, sporting heroes, politicians and military heroes. They were asked the question ‘Who is your hero and what would you cook for them?’ Contributors included Ewan McGregor, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Sir David Jason, Fern Britton, Ainsley Harriott , Dame Vera Lynn, Bruce Forsyth, Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman (the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery) and the last Tommy, Private Harry Patch.
  Squadron Leader Pullen, who is based at Abbeywood, Bristol, said: “It’s a real honour for the team to win this award. To be recognised on an international scale can only be good for sales and ultimately it will mean we can raise more money for Help For Heroes charity.”
  Food For Heroes, published by Accent Press, paperback, ISBN 9781906373801, price £14.99; hardback, ISBN 9781907016042, price £19.99
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  • Help for Heroes Cook Book

• 2 . 10 chefs for the 2010s

• Ramsay and later Blumenthal dominated the restaurant scene in the 2000s, just as Nico Ladenis and Marco Pierre White had done in the 1990s. Ramsay scored 10 out of 10* in The Good Food Guide in 2003, 2004 and 2005 with Blumenthal achieving the perfect score in 2009 and 2010.
  Will they continue to rule the roost in the next decade, or will others come to the fore? Chefs like Marcus Wareing (3rd in the Good Food Guide top 50**); Jason Atherton, Maze (11th); and Angela Hartnett, Murano (33rd), all from the Ramsay stable, are obvious contenders.
  Or will this be the decade for highly talented chefs Nathan Outlaw (10th); Shane Osborn, Pied à Terre (9th); or James Sommerin, Crown at Whitebrook (36th)?
  Or could someone relatively unknown, such as young Will Holland at La Bécasse in Ludlow (50th), race to the top? Other dark horses are Robert Thompson, Hambrough Hotel, Isle of Wight (37th); Marc Wilkinson, Fraiche, Merseyside (30th), deserves greater attention; and Adam Simmonds, Danesfield House, Marlow (19th) is currently producing some breathlessly modern food.
  The Good Food Guide 2010 can be ordered on
  01903 828557 (£16.99, free p&p), at www.which.co.uk/gfgbook or bought from bookshops.
• The Good Food Guide will be releasing an iPhone application in January 2010.
  *10/10 is a rare accolade given to a restaurant that produces perfect dishes on a consistent basis.
  **The Good Food Guide 2010 expanded its list of the Top 40 UK restaurants to a Top 50 as so many up-and-coming UK chefs are making the grade.