Screenshot via Official Livestream
Congratulations to all the winners
Tonight, the James Beard Foundation announced its Media Award winners for 2023. The Media Awards cover cookbooks and other books, journalism, and broadcasts like television and audio programming. Finalists were announced in April. The Awards this year happen on the heels of complicated headlines and backlash against the Foundation. “There’s a bit of noise around this year’s awards as we bring our mission and values center stage,” says Foundation CEO Clare Reichenbach in her opening remarks, obliquely referring to the drama that has swirled around the Awards in the past month around nominee disqualifications. “We’re about raising people up, not calling them out.”
A few takeaways and highlights: In the new book categories, baker-blogger Maurizio Leo’s debut cookbook The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book won in the bread books category while Psyche A. Williams-Forson won in the food issues & advocacy category for Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America. It wasn’t a total sweep for the Bon Appetit exodus, but Andy Baraghani won in the general cookbook category for his acclaimed debut The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to Impress while Rick Martínez won in the international category for Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico: A Cookbook. In the restaurant and professional category, Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul by Kevin Bludso and Noah Galuten took home the win. Illyana Maisonet took home the emerging voice award for her debut Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook and Joe Randall’s 1998 book A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine was added the Foundation’s cookbook hall of fame. Oxford, Mississippi-based chef Vishwesh Bhatt — one of the chefs who spoke out against the Foundation’s handling of the disqualifications and resigned as a judge last month — won in the U.S. foodways category for his book I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef (Bhatt didn’t accept his award in person at the ceremony).
Elsewhere, Erwan Heussaff (@Erwan) won for social media account and Abena Anim-Somuah, the host of Cherry Bombe podcast “The Future of Food is You” took the emerging vice award for broadcast media, while Detroit Free Press restaurant and dining critic Lyndsay C. Green took the journalism emerging voice award. Eater’s own Brooke Jackson-Glidden won the Jonathan Gold local voice award for her work at Eater Portland. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison took home the Craig Claiborne distinguished resaturant review award which “recognizes discerning criticism that contributes to the larger discourse on cuisine or restaurants” and Shane Mitchell took home the MFK Fisher distinguished writing award “recognizes a single article of exceptional literary merit on the subject of food and/or drink published in any medium” as well as the feature reporting award for her Bitter Southerner piece, “Blood Sweat & Tears.”
The restaurant and chef categories will be announced at a gala ceremony in Chicago this coming Monday, June 5. Here now, the complete list of James Beard Foundation Media Award winners for 2023:
James Beard Foundation Book Awards
Baking and Desserts
Tava: Eastern European Baking and Desserts from Romania & Beyond by Irina Georgescu
Beverage with Recipes
The Bartender’s Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro by Toby Maloney and Emma Janzen
Beverage without Recipes
Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake: Rice, Water, Earth by Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay
Bread
The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book by Maurizio Leo
Food Issues and Advocacy
Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America by Psyche A. Williams-Forson
General
The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to Impress by Andy Baraghani
International
Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico: A Cookbook by Rick Martínez
Literary Writing
Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali with Tarajia Morrell
Reference, History, and Scholarship
Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History by Jori Lewis
Restaurant and Professional
Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul by Kevin Bludso with Noah Galuten
Single Subject
The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt
U.S. Foodways
I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef by Vishwesh Bhatt
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition: A Cookbook by Hannah Che
Visuals
Chinese-ish: Home Cooking Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious by Joanna Hu and Armelle Habib
Emerging Voice
Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet
Cookbook Hall of Fame
A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine by Joe Randall and Toni Tipton-Martin
James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards
Audio Programming
Copper & Heat; “Abalone: The Cost of Consumption”; Airs on: Various podcast platforms
Audio Reporting
Jane Black and Elizabeth Dunn; Pressure Cooker; “The Twisted History of School Lunch in America”; Airs on: Various podcast platforms
Commercial Media
Hallie Davison, Jorge Gaviria, and Daniel Klein; Masienda Presents; Airs on: YouTube
Documentary / Docuseries Visual Media
Coldwater Kitchen; Airs on: Various film festivals
Instructional Visual Media
Big Sky Kitchen With Eduardo Garcia; Airs on: Magnolia Network and Discovery+
Reality or Competition Visual Media
Restaurant Takeover ft. Matta; Airs on: YouTube
Social Media Account
Erwan Heussaff; Erwan; Instagram
Visual Media—Short Form
CBS Sunday Morning; “Black, White, and The Grey”; “How Erin French found herself at The Lost Kitchen”; Airs on: CBS
Visual Media—Long Form
The Whole Animal; Airs on: SOMM TV
Emerging Voice
Abena Anim-Somuah; Host, The Future of Food is You; Airs on: Cherry Bombe
James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
Beverage
“Lost in Translation — How Flavor Wheels and Tasting Tools Can Evolve to Speak with Global Beer Drinkers” by Mark Dredge for Good Beer Hunting
Columns and Newsletters
“Tetelas Are the Tasty Triangles You Need to Try Right Now”; “Birria Is the Greatest Threat to Taco Culture—and Its Savior”; “Trompo Tacos Are So Much More Than Tacos al Pastor” by José R. Ralat for Texas Monthly
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award
“Poncho’s Tlayudas, a window to Oaxaca, serves one of L.A.’s defining dishes”; “At Chinatown’s Pearl River Deli, the menu is always changing — and worth chasing”; “Anajak Thai is our 2022 Restaurant of the Year” by Bill Addison for Los Angeles Times
Dining and Travel
“The I-95 exit-by-exit eating guide”; “Don’t leave home without your I-95 eating guide” by Hanna Raskin for The Food Section
Feature Reporting
“Blood Sweat & Tears” by Shane Mitchell for The Bitter Southerner
Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication
Foodways
“Come Hell or High Water — Oysters, Brewing, and How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston” by Jamaal Lemon for Good Beer Hunting
Health and Wellness
“How the Supreme Court Decision Exacerbated the Dire State of Bar Industry Healthcare” by Betsy Andrews for SevenFifty Daily
Home Cooking
“Sour Power” by Lara Lee for Food & Wine
Innovative Storytelling
“Night Market” by Thrillist Staff for Thrillist
Investigative Reporting
“Animal Agriculture Is Dangerous Work. The People Who Do It Have Few Protections.”; “‘I Was Coughing So Hard I Would Throw Up’”; “Tyson Says Its Nurses Help Workers. Critics Charge They Stymie OSHA.” by Christina Cooke, Alice Driver, and Gosia Wozniacka for Civil Eats
Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award
“When I Feel Unmoored by Life, I Always Find My Way Back to Either/Or”; “At Mira’s East African Cuisine, One Family’s Iftar Traditions Take the Forefront”; “Why Isn’t There an Overdose Kit Stocked Behind Every Bar in Portland?” by Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Eater
Personal Essay with Recipes
“Dog S#!t Dacquoise” by Diep Tran for Food & Wine
Personal Essay without Recipes
“On Boba” by Kyla Wazana Tompkins for The LARB Quarterly of the Los Angeles Review of Books
Profile
“The Sweetest Harvest” by Kayla Stewart for Food & Wine
MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
“Blood Sweat & Tears” by Shane Mitchell for The Bitter Southerner
Emerging Voice
Lyndsay C. Green, Restaurant and Dining Critic, Detroit Free Press
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2023. All editorial content, including this post, is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.
