The winners of the 2018 James Beard Media Awards were announced on April 27 at a ceremony in New York City. Here, we list the winning titles, and round up reviews, interviews with authors, and more.
Book of the Year
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
By Michael W. Twitty (Amistad)
Afroculinaria historian Twitty recounts his “‘Southern Discomfort Tour’ that he documented on his blog The Cooking Gene: revisiting the varied cuisines of the antebellum Tidewater, Low Country, and Cotton Belt South, talking to chefs and farmers, giving historical cooking demonstrations, and piecing together biographical and gastronomic lore on his enslaved (and enslaving) ancestors." The Cooking Gene also won the James Beard award in the Writing category.
American
The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen
By Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley (University of Minnesota Press)
Baking and Desserts
BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts
By Stella Parks (Norton)
Parks, a senior editor at Serious Eats known for her recreation of supermarket mainstays, told PW that confections like Oreos and Rice Krispies Treats are a “valid and deeply ingrained part of our culture and our culinary heritage...They’re so important to all of our memories of growing up. I wanted to reclaim those things.”
Beverage
By Jim Meehan (Ten Speed Press)
Meehan, mixologist behind acclaimed New York speakeasy PDT, said that his favorite drink “is the one in front of me when someone asks” in a Q&A with PW.
General
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
By Samin Nosrat (Simon and Schuster)
Nosrat’s debut landed on our list of the Best Books of 2017. When we spoke to Nosrat last spring, she talked about how cooking is removed from an increasingly digital world. “So much of our time is spent in this abstract world,” said Nosrat. “There’s this hunger for the simplest things—using your hands, and connecting with people around the table.”
Health and Special Diets
Deepa’s Secrets: Slow Carb New Indian Cuisine
By Deepa Thomas (Skyhorse)
International
By Gonzalo Guzman and Stacy Adimando (Ten Speed)
Photography
Cook Beautiful
By Athena Calderone, photography by Johnny Miller (Abrams)
Reference, History, and Scholarship
Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region
By Peter Liem (Ten Speed)
Restaurant and Professional
Modernist Bread: The Art and Science
By Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya (The Cooking Lab)
Single Subject
The Pho Cookbook: Easy to Adventurous Recipes for Vietnam's Favorite Soup and Noodles
By Andrea Nguyen (Ten Speed)
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables
By Joshua McFadden with Martha Holmberg (Artisan)
In our starred review, we write that the authors have “created a must-have cookbook that stands out from the crowd of vegetable-centric cookbooks for its variety of recipes, each one tempting in its own way.”
Cookbook Hall of Fame
Betty Fussell
In a 1999 profile of Fussell, the food writer and historian talked about, among other topics, the performance of the dinner parties she threw in the 1950s. "Entertaining at home is a complete theatrical event, which everyone understood and took for granted. It was a place for home ritual."
Our reviews of Betty Fussell’s books:
Crazy for Corn: More Than 170 Recipes for America's Favorite Grain
Home Bistro: Simple, Sensuous Fare in the Comfort of Your Own Kitchen
Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef
