Culinary group casts wide net in cookbook awards

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) announced its 2008 award winners at its annual conference last month. Here are the group's picks for the year's top cookbooks:

Cookbook of the Year: "Fish Forever: The Definitive Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Preparing Healthy, Delicious, and Environmentally Sustainable Seafood," by Paul Johnson (John Wiley & Sons)

American: "The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-Hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style," by Rebecca Rather, Alison Oresman (Ten Speed Press)

Bread, Other Baking and Sweets: "Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes From Europe's Best Artisan Bakers," by Daniel Leader, Lauren Chattman (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Chefs and Restaurants: "Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking," by Masaharu Morimoto (DK Publishing)

Compilations: "Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Techniques for the Artisan Confectioner," by the Culinary Institute of America and Peter P. Greweling, CMB (John Wiley & Sons)

First Book: "Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking," by Masaharu Morimoto (DK Publishing)

Food Reference/Technical: "Food: The History of Taste," by Paul Freedman (University of California Press)

General: "Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook," by Jamie Oliver (Hyperion Books)

Health and Special Diets: "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food," by Mark Bittman (John Wiley & Sons)

International: "Turquoise," by Greg and Lucy Malouf (Hardie Grant Books)

Literary Food Writing: "Julia Child," by Laura Shapiro (Viking)

Wine, Beer or Spirits: "The World Atlas of Wine," by Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson (Mitchell Beazley, distributed by Sterling)

Jane Grigson Award (tie): "Beans: A History," by Ken Albala (Berg Publishers) and "To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science and the Battle for the Wine Bottle," by George M. Taber (Scribner)