About the Awards
The James Beard Foundation Awards shine a spotlight on the best and brightest talent in the food and beverage industry.
Covering all aspects of the industry—from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more—the James Beard Foundation Awards are the highest honors for food and beverage professionals working in America. The awards are presented each spring at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Nominees and winners are fêted at a weekend of gala events in New York City that has become the social and gastronomic highlight of the year.
The theme of this year’s reception is Artisanal America. Some 35 years after James Beard wrote American Cookery, American culinary artisans and chefs have crafted a bona fide American cuisine. Underlying our culinary coming of age is an ever-growing appreciation for the artisanship of food. Whether it’s the care that goes into growing an heirloom variety of corn, the understanding of technique that helps make a fine cheese, the experienced hands that produce a perfectly shaped loaf of bread, or the attention to detail that separates a good cook from a great chef, it is culinary artisans who are at the forefront of the American culinary revolution.
Established in 1990, the James Beard Foundation Awards are a program of the James Beard Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate, nurture, and preserve America’s culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate our appreciation of the culinary arts. For more information, to join as a member, to learn more about James Beard, or to sign up to receive Beard Bites, our free electronic newsletter, visit www.jamesbeard.org.
