The James Beard Foundation, the culinary industry’s most prestigious recognition program, has announced the winners of the 2019 James Beard Media Awards. The Media Awards honor the nation’s top food authors, broadcast producers and hosts, and journalists. Nominees and guests gathered at an exclusive celebration dinner, hosted by Supermodel-turned-businesswoman and Emmy Award-winning television host, Tyra Banks, on Friday, April 26, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City.
In partnership with VISIT PHILADELPHIA®, the 2019 Media Awards featured some of the city’s top James Beard Foundation–affiliated culinary talent who traveled from the City of Brotherly Love to prepare a multi-course dinner, served during the ceremony. Philadelphia chefs included Ange Branca of Saté Kampar, Diana Widjojo and Maylia Widjojo of Hardena, and Andrew Farley of High Street on Market and High Street on Hudson, owned by 2019 Outstanding Restaurateur nominee Ellen Yin. Following the dinner and awards ceremony, guests were treated to a dessert reception with noted Philadelphia pastry chefs, including 2019 Outstanding Baker nominee Tova du Plessis of Essen, Kate Jacoby of Vedge, and Robert Toland of Terrain.
Each of the Media Awards categories is overseen by a committee of volunteer industry professionals, who determine Awards policies and procedures. The Book Award judges (48 in total) include editors, authors, journalists, and culinary educators who have not published a food book during the current Awards year. The Broadcast Media Award judges (more than 60 in total) include producers, educators, editors, and print journalists. Journalism Award judges (more than 90 in total) include working editors, journalists, retired food and beverage editors and writers, and deans and professors of leading journalism colleges.
A complete list of award winners can be found here, as well as at jamesbeard.org/awards.
2019 James Beard Foundation Media Awards Winners
2019 James Beard Foundation Book Awards
American
Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day
JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers
(Flatiron Books)
Baking and Desserts
SUQAR: Desserts & Sweets from the Modern Middle East
Greg Malouf and Lucy Malouf
(Hardie Grant Books)
Beverage
Wine Folly: Magnum Edition
Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack
(Avery)
General
Milk Street: Tuesday Nights
Christopher Kimball
(Little, Brown and Company)
Health and Special Diets
Eat a Little Better
Sam Kass
(Clarkson Potter)
International
Feast: Food of the Islamic World
Anissa Helou
(Ecco)
Photography
Tokyo New Wave
Andrea Fazzari
(Ten Speed Press)
Reference, History, and Scholarship
Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry
Anna Zeide
(University of California Press)
Restaurant and Professional
Chicken and Charcoal: Yakitori, Yardbird, Hong Kong
Matt Abergel
(Phaidon Press)
Single Subject
Goat: Cooking and Eating
James Whetlor
(Quadrille Publishing)
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
Saladish
Ilene Rosen
(Artisan Books)
Writing
Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine
Edward Lee
(Artisan Books)
Book of the Year
Cocktail Codex
Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan, with Devon Tarby
(Ten Speed Press)
Cookbook Hall of Fame
Jessica B. Harris
2019 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards
Documentary
Modified
Airs on: Film festivals and Vimeo
Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional
MasterClass – Dominique Ansel Teaches French Pastry Fundamentals
Airs on: MasterClass
Online Video, on Location
First We Feast’s Food Skills – Mozzarella Kings of New York
Airs on: YouTube
Outstanding Personality
Marcus Samuelsson
No Passport Required
Airs on: PBS
Outstanding Reporting
Deep Dive and Food for Thought, 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics
Reporter: David Chang
Airs on: NBC, NBCSN
Podcast
Copper & Heat – Be a Girl
Airs on: Copper & Heat, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher
Radio Show
The Food Chain – Raw Grief and Widowed
Airs on: BBC World Service
Special (on TV or Online)
Spencer’s BIG Holiday
Airs on: Gusto
Television Program, in Studio or Fixed Location
Pati’s Mexican Table – Tijuana: Stories from the Border
Airs on: WETA Washington; Distributed Nationally by American Public Television
Television Program, on Location
Salt Fat Acid Heat – Salt
Airs on: Netflix
Visual and Technical Excellence
Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown
Sarah Hagey, August Thurmer, and Kate Kunath
Airs on: CNN, Explore Parts Unknown, Roads & Kingdoms
2019 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
Columns
What We Talk About When We Talk About American Food: “The Pickled Cucumbers That Survived the 1980s AIDS Epidemic”; “A Second Look at the Tuna Sandwich’s All-American History”; and “Freedom and Borscht for Ukrainian-Jewish Émigrés”
Mari Uyehara
Taste
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award
Counter Intelligence: “The Hearth & Hound, April Bloomfield’s New Los Angeles Restaurant, Is Nothing Like a Gastropub”; “There’s Crocodile and Hog Stomach, but Jonathan Gold Is All About the Crusty Rice at Nature Pagoda”; and “At Middle Eastern Restaurants, It All Starts with Hummus. Jonathan Gold says Bavel’s Is Magnificent”
Jonathan Gold
Los Angeles Times
Dining and Travel
“Many Chinas, Many Tables”
Jonathan Kauffman and Team
San Francisco Chronicle
Feature Reporting
“A Kingdom from Dust”
Mark Arax
The California Sunday Magazine
Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication
New York Magazine
Robin Raisfeld, Rob Patronite, Maggie Bullock, and the Staff of New York Magazine
Foodways
“A Hunger for Tomatoes”
Shane Mitchell
The Bitter Southerner
Health and Wellness
“Clean Label’s Dirty Little Secret”
Nadia Berenstein
The New Food Economy
Home Cooking
“The Subtle Thrills of Cold Chicken Salad”
Cathy Erway
Taste
Innovative Storytelling
“In Search of Water-Boiled Fish”
Angie Wang
Eater
Investigative Reporting
“A Killing Season”
Boyce Upholt
The New Republic
Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award
“Yes Indeed, Lord: Queen’s Cuisine, Where Everything Comes from the Heart”; “Top 10 New Orleans Restaurants for 2019”; and “Sexual Harassment Allegations Preceded Sucré Co-Founder Tariq Hanna’s Departure”
Brett Anderson
Nola.com | The Times-Picayune
M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
“What Is Northern Food?”
Steve Hoffman
Artful Living
Personal Essay, Long Form
“I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter”
Geraldine DeRuiter
Everywhereist.com
Personal Essay, Short Form
“I’m a Chef with Terminal Cancer. This Is What I’m Doing with the Time I Have Left”
Fatima Ali
Bon Appétit
Profile
“The Short and Brilliant Life of Ernest Matthew Mickler”
Michael Adno
The Bitter Southerner
Wine, Spirits, and Other Beverages
“‘Welch’s Grape Jelly with Alcohol’: How Trump’s Horrific Wine Became the Ultimate Metaphor for His Presidency”
Corby Kummer
Vanity Fair
Publication of the Year
The New York Times
The James Beard Foundation Awards will continue with the Leadership Awards dinner on Sunday, May 5, 2019. The dinner, presented in association with Deloitte and hosted by Gail Simmons, will recognize honorees for their work in creating a more healthful, sustainable, and just food world. The James Beard Awards Gala will take place on Monday, May 6, 2019, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. During the event, which is open to the public, awards for the Restaurant and Chef and Restaurant Design categories will be handed out, along with special achievement awards Humanitarian of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Design Icon, and America’s Classics. A gala reception will immediately follow, featuring chefs and beverage professionals from across the country, including past JBF Award winners and many who are involved in the Foundation’s Impact Programs, from Smart Catch Seafood to Women’s Leadership programs and the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change. VIP guests will enjoy a multi-course dinner and experience in the mezzanine boxes during the Awards show prepared by chefs from the esteemed Union Square Hospitality Group.
This year’s theme, “Good Food For GoodTM” is synonymous with the James Beard Foundation’s mission. It is the simple summation of what the organization stands for, from unique and delicious dining experiences at the James Beard House and around the country, to scholarships, mentorships, and a variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in the food community. The Foundation has built a platform for chefs and asserted the power of gastronomy to drive behavior, culture, and policy change around food. With this theme, the annual Awards aim to bring attention not only to its deserving winners but to the Foundation’s overall mission as well.
Tickets to the May 6 Awards Gala are still available at jamesbeard.org/awards/tickets. General public tickets are $500; James Beard Foundation member tickets are $425; VIP dinner options available upon request to the box office at 914-231-6180 or boxoffice@jamesbeard.org. The ceremony will be broadcast live via the James Beard Foundation’s Twitter @beardfoundation and atjamesbeard.org/awards.
The 2019 James Beard Awards are proudly hosted by Choose Chicago and the Illinois Restaurant Association and presented in association with Chicago O’Hare and Midway International Airports and Magellan Corporation as well as the following partners: Premier Sponsors: All-Clad Metalcrafters, American Airlines, Capital One®, HMSHost, Lavazza, S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water ; Supporting Sponsors: Hyatt, National Restaurant Association™, Robert Mondavi Winery, Skuna Bay Salmon, TABASCO® Sauce, Valrhona, White Claw® Hard Seltzer, Windstar Cruises; Gala Reception Sponsors: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Ecolab, Front of the House®, Kendall College, with additional support from Chefwear, Loacker and VerTerra Dinnerware. Intersport is the Official Broadcast Partner of the 2019 James Beard Awards.
Established in 1990, the James Beard Awards recognize culinary professionals for excellence and achievement in their fields and further the Foundation’s mission to celebrate, nurture, and honor chefs and other leaders making America’s food culture more delicious, diverse, and sustainable for everyone. Each award category has an individual committee made up of industry professionals who volunteer their time to oversee the policies, procedures, and selection of judges for their respective Awards programs. All James Beard Award winners receive a certificate and a medallion engraved with the James Beard Foundation Awards insignia.
About the James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation’s mission is to promote good food for good™. For more than 30 years, the James Beard Foundation has highlighted the centrality of food culture in our daily lives. Through the James Beard Awards, unique dining experiences at the James Beard House and around the country, scholarships, hands-on learning, and a variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in our community, the Foundation has built a platform for chefs and asserted the power of gastronomy to drive behavior, culture, and policy change around food. To that end, the Foundation has also created signature impact-oriented initiatives that include our Women’s Leadership Programs, aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the culinary industry; advocacy training through our Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change; and the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards, which shine a spotlight on successful change makers. The organization is committed to giving chefs and their colleagues a voice and the tools they need to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and delicious for everyone. For more information, please visit jamesbeard.org and follow @beardfoundation on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
