It will go on to compete in the Gourmand “Best in the World” awards, and the overall winner for each category will be selected from cookbooks from over 162 countries worldwide at the Paris Cookbook Fair in February 2013.
Previous New Zealand recipients of awards have included Annabel Langbein, Brett McGregor and Jo Seagar.
Nic lives with muscular dystrophy and was the 2012 ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). He and Scholastic NZ are donating half of the royalties from sales of this book to the MDA.
Nic started cooking when one of his teachers suggested it might help with his schoolwork, and has since shown significant improvements in reading, spelling and maths. Nic’s Cookbook was borne from Nic creating his own ‘cookbooks’, which were photocopied booklets of his favourite recipes that he sold to family and friends to raise money for charities. In 2011, he went on to win the TVNZ Good Morning Kids’ Cook Off with his Chicken and Broccoli Pasta recipe, which features in the cookbook.
Since the publication of his book in October 2012, Nic has held a sell-out book launch, had television appearances on TVNZ Saturday Breakfast, What Now and Attitude TV, and done Whitcoulls in-store demonstrations assisted by celebrity chefs Simon Gault and Brett McGregor. Nic’s Cookbook has been a regular feature in the top-10 NZ children’s bestseller list.
