Hall of Fame Award (Posthumous) | 2013

Born in Ottawa, Helen Gougeon was a food journalist, cookbook author, and radio and television personality whose career spanned over five decades. She was the host of the CBC television series Bon Appetit and radio programs on CFRB and CJAD in Toronto and Montreal. Gougeon also wrote food columns for several major national newspapers, making regional Canadian cuisine accessible to a variety of audiences. An early advocate of ethnic cuisine, Gougeon published her first cookbook, Cooking…with an Accent, in 1946, followed by Good Food in 1958 (re-published as The Original Canadian Cookbook in 1975). Good Food is renowned for featuring international recipes that were rarely found in English-language cookbooks at the time. As the preface of Good Food notes, Gougeon skillfully provided through her writing that “fine blend which includes a cup of the economic and a level spoonful of the practical plus a good pinch of the original and a dash of the inspirational.”