Khir Johari’s The Food Of Singapore Malays is Best of All at Gourmand Cookbook Awards
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Singaporean author and food historian Khir Johari’s The Food Of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through The Archipelago has received the Best of All accolade at the 31st Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2025.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KHIR JOHARI
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SINGAPORE – Singaporean author and food historian Khir Johari’s The Food Of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through The Archipelago has received the Best of All accolade at the 31st Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2025.
Held on Nov 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the awards, which celebrate the depth, diversity and creativity of gastronomic writing across categories and languages, is widely regarded as the Oscars of culinary publishing.
Specially for this edition, the awards’ president Edouard Cointreau conferred the exceptional distinction on a single book across its 30-year history.
This milestone comes four years after the book ($87.20 at Books Kinokuniya Singapore) was first published on Nov 26, 2021. It features more than 400 photographs of food, people and places across the region, as well as 32 recipes of foundational Malay dishes.
Mr Cointreau said: “My deepest gratitude to Khir Johari for this extraordinary work of preservation – gathering and safeguarding the traditions, flavours and stories of the Malay people of Singapore.
“Your masterpiece has become a source of pride across the entire Nusantara world, and the foundation of a cultural movement in which you will forever be remembered as its generous and visionary founder.”
In previous editions of the awards, the richly illustrated tome was awarded Best of the Best Book in 2023 and Best of the Best in Food Culture in March.
It has also swept other accolades, including the NUS Singapore History Prize in 2024 and the Singapore Book Publishers Association’s Book of the Year at the Singapore Book Awards in 2022.
In a Facebook post after the ceremony, Khir called the award an “honour beyond anything I imagined”.
He said: “What makes this especially meaningful is knowing that the foodways of our region are being seen, heard, and taken seriously. A wonderful acknowledgement for Singapore and the wider region whose stories, traditions and people shaped this book.
“This project stands on the shoulders of many – the keepers of knowledge, the cooks and elders, the production team, and every collaborator and supporter who helped bring this book into the world.”
