A Pakistani title has won at the Gourmand World Awards, aka the Oscars of the cookbook awards!

According to a press release, Sayeeda Leghari's Pakistan Heritage Cuisine – A Food Story won 'Best Asian Cookbook in the World’ at the 2018 Gourmand Awards that took place in Yantai, China yesterday. The coffee-table book was up against seven other cookbooks including Korean Wife’s Secret Recipes (Hong Kong), Persian Kitchen (Israel), Fast Indian Cooking (Malaysia) and Lickerland, Asian Accented Desserts (USA).

The book was also nominated in the Culinary Heritage category

Leghari's book delves into the history and evolution of Pakistani cuisine, offering up insightful facts like the inventor of biryani was Empress Nur Jahan and the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Qamaru­ddin adopted the symbol of the kulcha bread on his flag.

“Through hearsay or documented evidence, I have tried giving the background of the creation of various dishes, which have come into our homes and daily lives, and while doing this I have celebrated our unsung cooks and chefs,” said Leghari at the launch of the book in November last year.

The only Pakistani title to have been honoured at the Gourmand Awards this year, Pakistan Heritage Cuisine has been published by Markings, which has previously won at Gourmand for Lal Majid's Deliciously Yours in 2014 and for the Pakistan-India collaborative cookbook Flavours of the Frontier in 2015.