To Cook A Spider wins the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for Cambodia

Mark Bibby Jackson’s debut Cambodia novel To Cook A Spider has received international recognition at the prestigious 2016 Gourmand Word Cookbook Awards. The competition’s jury announced that To Cook A Spider was the national winner for Cambodia in the categories of Best Self-Published Book and Best Asian Cuisine Book, on January 10.

The first in Bibby Jackson’s Cambodian trilogy, To Cook A Spider highlights contemporary Cambodian cooking as it follows protagonist Inspector Sorn Satya into a murky underworld of murder, blackmail and betrayal.

“Great title, by a talented writer with deep Cambodia experience,” said Edouard Cointreau, President of the Jury, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, on announcing the national winners. “It is a great book, a pleasure to read, and a help for those interested in Cambodia and all Southeast Asia cuisines.”

Nominated in 2016, Bibby Jackson’s Cambodia novel will go on to compete against winners from other countries for the Best in the World titles in the relevant categories. The results will be announced on May 27 and 28 at the annual Gourmand Awards Ceremony, in Yantai, China.

“This is a great privilege, not only for myself but also for Cambodia to achieve such recognition,” said Bibby Jackson. “I hope that this brings greater recognition to the fledgling fiction writing scene emerging in the Kingdom.”

Released in November last year, Bibby Jackson’s second novel, Peppered Justice, continues the culinary theme, with Inspector Satya once more pitting hits wits against a daunting adversary.

“I’m trying to create a kind of culinary crime noir,” says the author, who is currently working on the third in the series.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards represent the second honour bestowed upon Bibby Jackson in the past year, having scooped an award at the inaugural Essex Book Festival Crime Writing Short Story Competition in August for his short story A Slow Death.

Founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards honour the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television each year. Books from 205 countries participate in the awards, the only international competition in the sector. There is also a focus on self-published books, which Cointreau sees as the fastest growing sector in publishing.

Inspired by the spirit of the Olympic Games, the Gourmand Awards have been compared to the Oscars for the food and beverage writing field. Cointreau’s aims in creating the awards were to reward and honour those who “cook with words”, to enable readers, publishers and retailers to get the best from the food and beverage publishing sector and to raise awareness of the world’s diverse food and wine culture, promoting international understanding.

To Cook A Spider can be purchased at Amazon as an e-book, as can Always and Peppered Justice, or purchased in Cambodia at Monument Books.

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Following on from the success of his debut novel To Cook A Spider, which has won twin prizes at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Mark Bibby Jackson’s second Cambodia novel, Peppered Justice, was released in November 2016.

Peppered Justice by Mark Bibby Jackson

When Inspector Satya is unexpectedly instructed by the Kampot Chief of Police to work on what looks like a routine missing persons case little does he realise he will become ensnared in a web of murder, underage sex and pepper smuggling that is set to shake the peaceful town of Kampot to its core.

The faceless body of a dead girl is discovered in a field in the village of Teuk Chhou on the outskirts of Kampot, but instead of pursuing her killer, Inspector Satya is told to find the missing daughter of a wealthy expat and a rich Khmer. However, the inspector soon realises that the case is far from routine, as the girl’s body is discovered a few hundred metres from the guest house where she was last seen.

When a third girl goes missing, the inspector is involved in a race to save her life, in which he has to confront his own judicial system.

The second of Bibby Jackson’s Cambodian trilogy, Peppered Justice picks up where To Cook A Spider left off, with disgraced Cambodian detective Major Sorn Satya transferred to Kampot after his handling of the Defaux murder case. However, despite this set back the inspector is determined to fight for justice rather than kowtow to authority.

Author Mark Bibby Jackson skilfully merges humour with a pacey detective plot while developing a lead character that is set to become the Kingdom’s favourite culinary detective. Could this be the start of Cambodian nouvelle noir?

Released at the Kampot’s Writers and readers Festival in early November 2016, Peppered Justice is available in bookshops in Cambodia available through Amazon.

Follow on Facebook. Peppered Justice.

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“Peppered with humour, Bibby Jackson’s second novel is as much of a page-turner as it is a psychological insight into what makes humans tick, making it a riveting read from start to finish.”

Marissa Carruthers, AsiaLIFE Cambodia

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About the Author

Mark Bibby Jackson is the award-winning author of the Cambodia novel To Cook A Spider and the short stories Always and A Slow Death. He is the publisher and founder of lifestyle and travel magazine AsiaLIFE Cambodia, and editorial director of ASEAN Forum magazine and Horizon Thailand. As a freelance travel and lifestyle writer as well as food and theatre reviewer he has featured in Forbes, TNT, the Phnom Penh Post, the Myanmar Times and QUO. He moved to Cambodia in 2006, but now flits from Phnom Penh to Bangkok and Essex – and many points in between.

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