Diana Kennedy, “Top Chef” top James Beard awards
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Diana Kennedy’s “Oaxaca al Gusto” was the best cookbook of the year according to the James Beard Foundation, at “Top Chef” was the best food television show. The awards were announced Friday night at Espace in New York. The restaurant awards will be announced Monday night. Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” was placed in the Cookbook Hall of Fame.
In other cookbook awards, American Cooking was won by “Pig: King of the Southern Table” by James Villas; Baking and Dessert: “Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours,” by former Los Angeles pastry chef Kim Boyce and frequent Los Angeles Times contributor Amy Scattergood; Beverage: “Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World’s Top Wine Professionals” by Jordan Mackay and Rajat Parr; Cooking from a Professional Point of View: “Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine” by René Redzepi; General Cooking: “The Essential New York Times Cook Book: Classic Recipes for a New Century” by Amanda Hesser; Healthy Focus: “The Simple Art of EatingWell Cookbook” by Jessie Price & the EatingWell Test Kitchen; International: “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories” by Grace Young; Photography: “Noma”; Reference and Scholarship: “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes” by Mark Bitterman; Single Subject: “Meat: A Kitchen Education” by James Peterson ; and Writing and Literature: “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food” by Paul Greenberg .
In the journalism awards, Patric Kuh of Los Angeles magazine won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award and Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly won the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. Publication of the Year was Edible Communities. Cooking, Recipes, or Instruction: Amy Thielen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune; Environment, Food Politics and Policy: Carl Safina of EatingWell; Food Culture and Travel: Rick Bragg, Francine Maroukian, and Robb Walsh in Garden & Gun; Food Column: Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper; Food-Related Feature: Dan Koeppel of Saveur; Food Section of a General Interest Publication: San Francisco Chronicle; Group Food Blog: Grub Street New York; Health and Nutrition: Rachael Moeller Gorman of Eating Well; Humor: Ruth Bourdain; Individual Food Blog: Barry Estabrook of Politicsoftheplate.com; Multimedia Food Feature: Michael Gebert and Julie Thiel of the Chicago Reader; Personal Essay: Tom Junod; Profile: Benjamin Wallace of New York magazine; and Wine and Spirits: Jon Fine of Food & Wine. The Los Angeles Times does not enter the James Beard awards.
In the broadcast and online division, Audio Webcast or Radio Show was “CBC Ideas: Pasta: The Long and Short of It” hosted by Megan Williams; TV Food Personality: Alton Brown; On-Location Television Program: “Avec Eric” by Eric Ripert; Television Segment: “60 Minute: Chef Jose Andres”; Television Special/Documentary: “Milk War” hosted by Colm Feore and produced by Declan O’Driscoll and Kevin O’Keefe; and Video Webcast: GrapeRadio hosted by Eric Anderson, Brian Clark, and Jay Selman and produced by Mark Ryan and Selman.
--Russ Parsons
