Those who love to cook are always looking for different recipes to try out. While many resort to the internet to find various recipes, many people prefer buying cookbooks of diverse cuisines. Well, the good news is that Markings Publishing’s first Hindi-Urdu cookbook, ‘Zaiqay Frontier Kay – Dera Ismail Khan Kay Bhulay Basray Pakwan’ has recently won the prestigious Gourmand Award for ‘Cookbooks and Peace’. The cookbook has further been honoured by the Gourmand Award committee with nominations in three other categories: Best Vegetarian Cookbook, Best Culinary History Cookbook and Best Local Cuisine Cookbook. The results for the aforementioned three categories competing for the ‘Best in the World’ title will be announced on Tuesday June 9, 2015 at the annual Gourmand Awards event, set to take place in Yantai – the food capital of Shandong province in China. In 2014, Markings had won their first prestigious Gourmand Awards for the title ‘Deliciously Yours’ by Lal Majid, in the ‘Best Pastry Sweets Cookbook’.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau with the endeavour to recognize and honour the best authors, publishers, food writers and all those who ‘cook with words’. The annual Awards have established themselves as the premier cookbook recognition authority and are widely regarded by international journalists as the ‘Oscars’ of the Cookbook Awards.

Speaking about the international recognition that ‘Flavours of the Frontier’ has garnered, Kiran Aman CEO of Markings said, “This cookbook paid homage to the shared cultural heritage of Pakistan and India and is in essence a cross-border collaboration. To that end, we were delighted with the response the book received at the Jaipur Literary Festival earlier this year and are proud that the cookbook has won an award for its contribution to peace through the culinary tradition.”

Translated as ‘Flavours of the Frontier – Forgotten Recipes from Dera Ismail Khan’, the book brings together the rich flavours of the Subcontinent. It embodies the spirit of food for peace and the preservation of culture.

Published by Markings, the book has a diversity of 80 coveted recipes by Pushpa Kumari Bagai as edited in Urdu by Shanaz Ramzi with cover illustration by Ayesha Durrani, layout by Tuba Arshad, photography by Adeela Badshah, Kohi Marri, Nakul Malik and Atul Bagai; and translation from Hindi to Urdu by Abbas Sial.

In Pakistan, this cookbook is currently at leading book stores and on Amazon. What are you waiting for? Go ahead, buy your copy now and treat yourself and your loved ones with mouth-watering dishes.