Canada’s 100 Best is delighted to be working once again with Taste Canada and the incredible cookbooks from authors across the country who honour Canadian food writing.   As we are both in the business of celebrating Canada’s culinary identity, this is a match made in…kitchen heaven.

Taste Canada recognises the writers who are inspired by Canada’s multicultural landscape, the kitchens of their ancestors and the bountiful foods grown here. The  authors fuse tradition with new ingredients, ideas and techniques.

In the lead up to the Taste Canada Awards on November 14th in Toronto, we have been doing some cherry-picking through their cookbook offerings – a tough task given the incredible selection.  Here’s our two picks for August.

August is all about prolonging summer. Easy to do with The Urban Homesteading Cookbook: Forage, Farm, Ferment and Feast for a Better World.   Food culture is in the midst of a do-it-yourself renaissance, and urbanites everywhere are relishing craft beers, foraged ingredients, sustainable seafood, and ethically raised meats. Author Michelle Nelson began urban homesteading in her downtown apartment,  armed with a passion for food and farming, and a PhD in conservation biology and sustainable agriculture. The resulting book is a how-to for anyone interested in collecting, growing and preserving summer’s bounty. With seventy recipes (think seaweed kimchi, rabbit with wild chanterelles, roasted Japanese knotweed panna cotta and dark and stormy chocolate cupcakes with cricket flour) you can live the dream in your little condo on the prairie.

We love Grilling with House of Q: Inspired Recipes for Backyard Barbecues for its no-fail backyard barbeque recipes for perfect smoked ribs, shrimp tacos, pulled pork and pit beans—or burritos, mac ’n’ cheese and baklava. Grilling at House of Q is more than just a handsome cookbook. Part instruction manual and part story collection, it puts you in the hands of BBQ Brian. Brian Misko has spent more than a decade smoking and grilling foods, competing against other pit masters and learning from some of the best in the business.

Both books would make perfect hosting gifts for that Labour Day weekend at the cottage invite you’re hoping for.