FKNK’s GAME RECIPES FROM MALTA awarded “Best Game Meat Book in the World”at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2025

FKNK CEO Lino Farrugia and FKNK President Lucas Micallef with the Gourmand Awards 2025 award of "The Best Game Meat Book in the World"

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK) is proud to announce that its publication, Game Recipes from Malta, won the “Best Game Meat Book in the World” award at the 31st Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This distinguished international recognition firmly places Malta on the global culinary map. With entries from 96 countries across five continents, this accolade is a remarkable achievement for a Maltese publication and is especially meaningful as it is the first book of its kind ever issued in Malta.

Produced in collaboration with thirteen local chefs and featuring thirty traditional and contemporary recipes, Game Recipes from Malta showcases the island’s unique culinary heritage, celebrating techniques and flavours that have long been enjoyed at home but have often been absent from formal Maltese cookbooks.  This award honours the work behind the publication and strengthens Malta’s presence in the global conversation on sustainable game cuisine and culinary heritage.

For several years, the senior editor (Lino Farrugia, CEO of FKNK) had been ambitious to publish this game book.  When the young FKNK president Lucas Micallef demonstrated a similar determination and enthusiasm to publish such a book, the two editors decided to publish it through FKNK. The book was launched from the FKNK stand at the Malta AgriFair in April 2024.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995.  Every year, they honour the best food and wine books, whether printed or digital, as well as food television programmes. 

The founder and chairman of the Gourmand Awards Committee, Mr Edouard Cointreau, remarked that "Malta has surprised the world by publishing this unique cookbook which celebrates Malta’s rich tradition of game cuisine, bringing together local chefs, culinary expertise and years of dedication to preserving recipes that were once overlooked in Maltese cookbooks.  Congratulations to Lino Farrugia, Lucas Micallef, and the Federation of Hunting and Conservation Malta for Game Recipes from Malta.” 

FKNK President Lucas Micallef at the 31st Gourmand Awards in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The FKNK would like to express its sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to this landmark achievement, including the main sponsors: the Honourable Minister for Gozo and Planning, Clint Camilleri and the Honourable Alex Agius Saliba MEP; the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Ian Borg, who made the editors' visit to Saudi Arabia possible; Dr Noel Buttigieg, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at the University of Malta, for his insightful foreword; the participating chefs, whose creativity and commitment shaped the book; the scriptwriter, Dean Muscat; the photographer and chef, Sàndor Venczel; the printer, TIK Print; the designer, Darryl Farrugia; the FKNK council members; and the Gourmand Awards, for granting Malta's culinary story a place on the world stage.

Game Recipes from Malta is distributed by BDL Books and is available from all leading stationers and bookshops in Malta and Gozo, as well as from the FKNK Msida offices.