2009 James Beard Foundation Awards

Originally posted at Paper Palate on May 7, 2009.

And the winner is . . .

The James Beard Awards are known colloquially as the the food “Oscars.”  Simply put they are the most important awards on the American food scene.  On Monday May 4th the James Beard Foundation gathered together in the Big Apple to name the best of the best.

Among the winners in publishing was Michael Pollan whose In Defense of Food was one top pick.  Pollan is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and is a food activist who is critical of conventional agriculture.

Nate Appleman of A16 in San Francisco and whose cookbook of the same name cleaned up at the IACP Awards last month took home the the JBF nod for Rising Star Chef.  Jennifer McLagan’s Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient took two awards, cookbook of the year and single subject cookbook.  2008 JBF Chef of the Year, Grant Achatz, won a book award this year for Alinea a cookbook based on the recipes from his award winning Chicago eatery.

Other JBF publishing winners:

• Cookbook Hall of Fame – Jane Grigson, body of work including “The Art of Charcuterie,” “Good Things,” and “Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book”
• American Cooking – Martha Hall Foose, “Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook”
• Baking and Dessert – Shirley O. Corriher, “Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking”
• Beverage – Steven Kolpan, Brian H. Smith, Michael A. Weiss and The Culinary Institute of America, “WineWise: Your Complete Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Enjoying Wine”
• General – Mark Bittman, “How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised Tenth Anniversary Edition)”
• Healthy Focus – Ellie Krieger, “The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life”
• International – Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, “Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China”