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Announcing the 2024 Media Award Nominees

Check out our Book, Broadcast Media, and Journalism nominees!

JBF Editors

April 30, 2024

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Today, we are proud to announce the 2024 Media Award nominees in advance of the returning James Beard Awards ceremonies presented by Capital One. The list includes nominees in Book, Broadcast Media, and Journalism categories. This year's winners will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony in Chicago on the campus of Columbia College Chicago on Saturday, June 8.

Check out the nominees below!

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2024 James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominees

Cookbooks and other non-fiction food or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2023 were elligible to enter the 2024 James Beard Book Awards. Books from foreign publishers must bear a 2023 U.S. copyright date and/or must have been distributed in the U.S. during 2023.

Baking and Desserts
Books with recipes focused on the art and craft of baking, pastries, and desserts, both sweet and savory items, including ingredients, techniques, equipment, and traditions. This year, submissions to the Bread category were included for consideration within the Baking and Desserts category.

Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from Belgium, the Heart of the Low Countries
Regula Ysewijn
(Weldon Owen)

Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed  
Abi Balingit  
(HarperCollins)

More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community
Natasha Pickowicz
(Artisan Books)

Beverage with Recipes 
Books with recipes focused on beverages, such as cocktails, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or juices.

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks  
Toni Tipton-Martin  
(Clarkson Potter)

The Maison Premiere Almanac: Cocktails, Oysters, Absinthe, and Other Essential Nutrients for the Sensualist, Aesthete, and Flaneur  
Joshua Boissy, Jordan Mackay, and Krystof Zizka with William Elliot
(Clarkson Potter)  

Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Sodas, Botanical Cocktails, Homemade Wines, and More  
Danny Childs  
(Hardie Grant North America)

Beverage without Recipes  
Books without recipes that focus on beverages, such as cocktails, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or juices; or books that cover these subject areas where recipes are not the focus of cooking, not just a single topic, technique, or region.

Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals
Gary Paul Nabhan and David Suro Piñera  
(W. W. Norton & Company)

The New French Wine
Jon Bonné  
(Ten Speed Press)

Vines in a Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution
Henry Jeffreys  
(Atlantic)

Food Issues and Advocacy 
Books that focus on investigative journalism, food policy, food advocacy, deep dives, and critical analysis of the changing social landscape around food.

At the Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy  
Katherine Miller  
(Island Press)

Avocado Anxiety: and Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes From   
Louise Gray  
(Bloomsbury Wildlife)

Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis: Essays and Recipes  
Philip Gleissner and Harry Eli Kashdan  
(Rutgers University Press)

General  
Books with recipes that address a broad scope of cooking, not just a single topic, technique, or region.

A Cook's Book  
Nigel Slater  
(Ten Speed)

The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z  
Tamar Adler  
(Scribner)  

Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook  
Sohla El-Waylly  
(Alfred A. Knopf)

International  
Books with recipes focused on food or cooking traditions of countries, regions, or communities outside of the United States.

Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation  
Clarissa Wei with Ivy Chen
(Simon & Schuster/Simon Element)

My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora  
Yewande Komolafe  
(Ten Speed Press)

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook  
José Andrés and World Central Kitchen with Sam Chapple-Sokol
(Clarkson Potter)

Literary Writing  
Narrative nonfiction books, including memoirs, culinary travel, culinary tourism, biography, reflections on food in a cultural context, and personal essays.

Food Stories: Writing That Stirs the Pot  
The Bitter Southerner   
(The Bitter Southerner)  

For The Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes
Klancy Miller
(HarperCollins)

The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García  
Laura Tillman  
(W. W. Norton & Company)

Reference, History, and Scholarship  
Manuals, guides, encyclopedias, or books that present research related to food or foodways.

The Ark of Taste: Delicious and Distinctive Foods That Define the United States  
David S. Shields and Giselle K. Lord  
(Hachette Book Group)  

Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement   
Bobby J. Smith II  
(University of North Carolina Press)

White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation  
Naa Oyo A. Kwate  
(University of Minnesota Press)

Restaurant and Professional  
Books written by a culinary professional or restaurant chef with recipes that may include advanced cooking techniques, the use of specialty ingredients and professional equipment, including culinary arts textbooks.

Ester: Australian Cooking  
Mat Lindsay with Pat Nourse
(Murdoch Books)

Fish Butchery: Mastering The Catch, Cut, And Craft  
Josh Niland  
(Hardie Grant Books)

Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California   
Jessica Battilana and Sylvan Mishima Brackett
(Hardie Grant North America)

Single Subject  
Books with recipes focused on a single ingredient, dish, or method of cooking. Examples include seafood, grains, pasta, burgers, or canning. Exceptions are baking and desserts books, vegetable-focused books, restaurant and professional books, and beverage books—which would be entered in their respective categories.

The Hog Island Book of Fish and Seafood: Culinary Treasures from Our Waters  
John Ash  
(Cameron Books)  

Pasta Every Day: Make It, Shape It, Sauce It, Eat It  
Meryl Feinstein  
(Hachette Book Group)

Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life  
Homa Dashtaki  
(W. W. Norton & Company)

U.S. Foodways  
Books with recipes focused on the cooking or foodways of regions or communities located within the United States.

Ed Mitchell's Barbeque
Ed Mitchell, Ryan Mitchell, and Zella Palmer  
(Ecco)

Love Japan: Recipes from Our Japanese American Kitchen      
Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi with Gabriella Gershenson
(Ten Speed Press)

Made Here Recipes & Reflections From NYC's Asian Communities    
Nat Belkov, Elaine Mao, and Tina Zhou, with Christoph Grosse, Diana Le, and Alice Luo
(Self-Published)

Vegetable-Focused Cooking  
Books on vegetable cookery with recipes that are meatless, vegetarian, or vegan.

Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea   
Andrea Nguyen  
(Ten Speed Press)

Japan: The Vegetarian Cookbook  
Nancy Singleton Hachisu  
(Phaidon Press)

Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds  
Hetty Lui McKinnon  
(Alfred A. Knopf)

Visuals  
Books on food or beverage with exceptional graphic design, art, or photography. 

The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp  
Yudi Echevarria  
(Ten Speed Press)  

For The Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes   
Kelly Marshall with Sarah Madden
(HarperCollins)

Thank You Please Come Again: How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South  
Kate Medley with Dave Whitling
(BS Publishing)

Cookbook Hall of Fame
This award is given to either a cookbook that has significantly influenced the way we think about food, honoring authors who possess an exceptional ability to communicate their gastronomic vision via the printed page, or an author whose cookbooks and other culinary books and work, taken together, make a difference in the world of food and cooking. The Book Awards Subcommittee selects the winner for this category. The Cookbook Hall of Fame winner will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 8.

2024 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award Nominees

The Broadcast Media Awards recognize non-fiction works in English covering food and beverage topics and appearing widely for the first time in the United States in 2023. These works are from digital and terrestrial media—radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, documentaries, online sites, and social media.

Audio Programming 
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related radio or podcast program.

Fed with Chris van Tulleken  
“Series 1: Planet Chicken”
Airs on: BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4

Gastropod
“Meet Taro, the Poke Bowl’s Missing Secret Ingredient”
Airs on: Gastropod

Good Food  
“The life and times of Lalo García: Immigration, deportation, reconciliation”
Airs on: KCRW

Audio Reporting
This award recognizes excellence in reporting and narratives about food and/or food issues in radio or podcasts. This work is issue or deadline-driven, investigative topical, or timely in nature.

Gab Chabrán and Brian De Los Santos 
How to LA  
“The Best Places to Find a Good Concha in LA”  
Airs on: LAist.com and all podcast platforms  

Mackenzie Martin 
A People’s History of Kansas City  
“The Golden Arches in Black Kansas City”
Airs on: KCUR and various podcast platforms  

Samia Basille, Emma Morgenstern, and Dan Pashman 
The Sporkful   
“What ‘Couscousgate’ Tells Us About French Food”
Airs on: All podcast platforms

Commercial Media
This award recognizes excellence in food-related media including video production, audio programming, or other media that is clearly developed and marketed with prominent visual branding, is commercially funded, and/or contains paid advertising. It may be broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.

Mike Aho, Joey Lucas, and Taye Shuayb
Street Somm
Airs on: Tastemade streaming channel  

Murilo Ferreira, Carla Francescutti, and Stephen Pelletteri 
Vendors: Why One of The Best Restaurants in America Buy Their Oysters from the McIntosh Family  
Airs on: Eater channel on YouTube   

The Mayda Creative Co. and Wieden+Kennedy New York
The Black Kitchen Series: Innovators, Season 2
Airs on: All podcast platforms 

Documentary Visual Media 
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related documentary production (15 minutes or greater in length). The production must have been made available to the public via broadcast, stream (SVOD), download (TVOD), YouTube/Vimeo (AVOD or free view), and/or exhibition at a North American film festival.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia
Airs on: Paramount+  

The Michoacan File
Airs on: Various film festivals

Preserving Taste
Airs on: 2023 Ceres Food Festival

Docuseries Visual Media  
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related docuseries production (at least 3 episodes) each of which is longer than 10 minutes. All episodes of the production must have been made available to the public via broadcast, stream (SVOD), download (TVOD), YouTube/Vimeo (AVOD or free view), and/or exhibition at a North American film festival.

High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Airs on: Netflix  

La Frontera with Pati Jinich, Season 2
Airs on: PBS and Amazon Prime

Philippine Salt Series
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube  

Instructional Visual Media 
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production with instruction and/or education as its primary intent broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.

Big Sky Kitchen with Eduardo Garcia, Season 2  
Airs on: Discovery+ and Max  

Made with Lau
Airs on: Made with Lau channel on YouTube

What’s Eating Dan?
Airs on: America’s Test Kitchen channel on YouTube

Social Media Account 
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related social media account or platform.

KJ Kearney
Black Food Fridays
Airs on: Instagram  

Randy Lau
Made With Lau
Airs on: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok  

Abi Marquez
Abi Marquez
Airs on: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube 

Unscripted Visual Media  
This award recognizes excellence in an unscripted food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.

The Family Behind LA’s Best Texas BBQ
Airs on: Munchies channel on YouTube  

On The Line, Bon Appétit
Airs on: Bon Appétit website and YouTube  

Street Eats, Bon Appétit
Airs on: Bon Appétit website and YouTube

Visual Media—Short Form  
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app, up to 30 minutes in length, and not appropriate for entry in the categories outlined above.

CAMINANTE video series
Airs on: La Mafia channel on YouTube

Great Wall
Airs on: Undercurrent Film Company channel on Vimeo  

Remembrance: Recreating a Jewish family’s recipes
Airs on: CBS Sunday Morning

Visual Media—Long Form 
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app, longer than 30 minutes in length, and not appropriate for entry in the categories outlined above.

Most Expensive Chocolate in the World (Heirloom Ingredients of Negros Occidental Philippines)
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube  

SOMM: Cup of Salvation
Airs on: Somm TV

Why Is the Filipino Calamansi Being Left Behind?
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube

2024 Journalism Awards  

The Journalism Awards recognize works in English and cover food- or drink-related content which were published—or self-published—in 2023 in any medium.

Beverage  
This award recognizes distinctive style, thorough knowledge, plainspoken prose, and innovative approach in a single article on alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.

"Bourbon, Biodiversity, and the Quest to Save America's Oak Forests"     
Betsy Andrews   
SevenFifty Daily  

"Still Life"     
Emily Bingham   
Travel + Leisure  

"Navigating the new sober boom, where a person's sobriety is as unique as their fingerprint"     
D. Watkins   
Salon 

Columns and Newsletters  
This award recognizes the work of an individual or team/group that demonstrates thought-provoking opinion and a compelling style on food- or drink-related topics. An entry consists of three examples of a regularly published column or newsletter, in print or online.

"Not from here, not from there"; "Yee-haw!"; "Jajangmyeon"  
G. Daniela Galarza  
The Washington Post  

"A meal of many seasons"; "Good ice"; "Subsistence abundance"  
Laureli Ivanoff  
High Country News

"Defining 'Guisado' Is Just as Messy as the Dish Itself"; "A Head Above: How Barbacoa Paved the Way for Barbecue"; "Red, White, and Covered in Salsa: How Two Colors Came to Dominate Taquerias"  
José Ralat  
Texas Monthly

Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award
This award recognizes discerning criticism or commentary that contributes to the larger discourse on food, drink, and related topics; this includes restaurant reviews, cultural critiques, or analyses that demonstrate thought-provoking opinion and compelling style.

"There's no place like home for Soulé, bringing its Creole soul food back to North Lawndale"; "Thattu pioneers with Kerala cuisine, just as much as its innovative tip-free pay model"; "Chef Maya-Camille Broussard makes pies and peace at her new Justice of the Pies bakery in Chicago"  
Louisa Chu  
Chicago Tribune  

"At Mount Masala, magnificent momos and Himalayan goat worth the trek"; "Roxanne is one of Philly's hot new restaurants. It's more interesting than delicious."; "Dinner at the Union League? No thanks."  
Craig LaBan  
The Philadelphia Inquirer  

"The Food Scene: A Jewel of New Jersey's Palestinian Enclave"; "Tables for Two: Scarr's Pizza"; "Tables for Two: Cecchi's"  
Helen Rosner  
The New Yorker

Dining and Travel 
This award recognizes exemplary and comprehensive service journalism that relies on both critical voice and thorough research to bring a variety of dining options into perspective, whether in a single city, a region, or a country.

"All Hail the Hoagie"    
Hannah Albertine, Adam Erace, and Bradford Pearson  
Philadelphia Magazine

"An Inspiring Journey Home"; "21 Things Craig Laban Ate in Mexico"; "Mexican Spirits, Philly Energy"  
Jessica Griffin and Craig LaBan  
The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Is Mexico City getting too cool for its own good? I returned to find out"; "The best tacos, cantinas, pulque and classic restaurants in Mexico City"; "Traveling to Mexico City? What to tip, how to behave, and when to avoid the Metro"  
Daniel Hernandez  
Los Angeles Times

Feature Reporting  
This award recognizes excellence for engaging writing and in-depth reporting in food and/or drink features.

"Waiting for the Rain — How Drought in Northern Mexico Impacts the Country's Beer Industry"   
Chelsea Carrick  
Good Beer Hunting  

"Saving the Hogs of Ossabaw Island: An eccentric heiress, a daring mission, and the fight for North America’s most unusual pig."    
Diana Hubbell  
Gastro Obscura

"No place at the table: Indian women, food, and eating"    
Saumya Kalia  
Al Jazeera Digital

Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication  
This award recognizes excellence in food and/or drink writing, reporting, and presentation in a general interest site or print publication. Judges evaluate each entry for overall breadth and depth of coverage.

The Bitter Southerner  

Garden & Gun

Switchyard and FERN

Foodways  
This award recognizes the importance of culture and history in food journalism. Entries in this category explore the connection between what we eat and who we are, with an emphasis on reporting.

"Medieval Arabic Culinary Literature Offers Lessons for the Present"    
Mahmoud Habboush  
New Lines Magazine

"Tell Me Why the Watermelon Grows"    
Jori Lewis  
Switchyard and FERN

"Billions of snow crabs are missing. A remote Alaskan village depends on the harvest to survive."    
Julia O'Malley  
Grist and FERN

Health and Wellness  
This award recognizes excellence in food- and/or drink-related health and wellness coverage. Entries explore a variety of topics that may include (but are not limited to) addiction, aging, chronic disease, diet, mental health, mind-body connection, nutrition, and reproductive health.

"Long-lived Loma Linda"    
Hilary Brueck  
Business Insider  

"As the Salton Sea Shrinks, Agriculture's Legacy Turns to Dust"    
Virginia Gewin  
Civil Eats

"Melted, pounded, extruded: Why many ultra-processed foods are unhealthy"    
Anahad O'Connor and Aaron Steckelberg  
The Washington Post

Home Cooking  
This award recognizes excellence in service journalism with a practical focus for the home cook. The award honors imaginative and substantive entries that use fresh, innovative approaches—both written and visual—to illuminate cooking methods, ingredients, and recipes. 

"Lost in the Stock"    
Noah Galuten  
Eater  

"Curry Rice Is Always a Good Idea"    
Lan Lam  
Cook's Illustrated  

"Cook with MSG"    
Mari Uyehara  
Food & Wine

Innovative Visual Storytelling  
This award recognizes excellence in food- and/or drink-related content that emphasizes photography, virtual reality, interactive design, or other forms of visual enhancement to tell a story. 

"The Protein Problem"   
The Associated Press Health and Science Team   
The Associated Press  

"The Eater College Dining Plan"     
Lille Allen, Nat Belkov, and Nick Mancall-Bitel  
Eater  

"Climate change is pushing American farmers to confront what's next"    
Laura Reiley and Kadir van Lohuizen
The Washington Post

Investigative Reporting  
This award recognizes excellence in investigative reporting on environmental, political, business, or policy issues regarding food and/or drink.

"The Kids on the Night Shift"; "They're Paid Billions to Root Out Child Labor in the U.S. Why Do They Fail?"; "Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S."
Hannah Dreier  
The New York Times  

"Walmart's 'Regenerative Foodscape'"; "Op-ed: Walmart's Outsized Catch"; "Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster"  
Alice Driver, Lisa Held, and Aaron Van Neste  
Civil Eats  

"A Fleet Prone to Captive Labor and Plunder"; "The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World's Fish"; "A Brief History of a Problematic Appetizer"  
Ian Urbina and the Staff of The Outlaw Ocean Project  
The Outlaw Ocean Project, The New Yorker, and The New York Times

Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award 
This award recognizes the work of an individual who engages readers through enterprising food and dining coverage in a specific region, which also displays versatility in form, including reviews, profiles, cooking, quick hits, and hard news reporting.

"Detroit restaurants toy with an old idea: Does sex sell when it comes to dining out?"; "Emerging Chef Josmine Evans is a griot, a grower and a damn-good cook"; "From fasting to feasting: How Fridays during the Lenten season became days of indulgence"  
Lyndsay C. Green  
Detroit Free Press

"Our Brunches, Ourselves: Atlanta's a divided city. Could unity be found on Sunday at 11 a.m.?"; "All Together Now: Pop-up collective Stolen Goods counts some of Atlanta's finest young chefs of color among its ranks"; "Less Offal, but Still Pretty Good: Holeman & Finch Public House"  
Mike Jordan  
Atlanta Magazine  

"Gifts of Winter"; "How Tammy Wong of Rainbow Chinese Became a Wok Star"; "North Side Star"  
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl  
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
This award recognizes a single article of exceptional literary merit on the subject of food and/or drink published in any medium.

"The Kids on the Night Shift"    
Hannah Dreier  
The New York Times Magazine  

"To Find Myself, All I Needed Was a Hunting License"    
Nylah Iqbal Muhammad  
Sweet July  

"In Praise of the Gas Station Pie"    
Sarah Perry  
Cake Zine

Personal Essay
This award recognizes excellence in an essay on any food- and/or drink-related topic without recipes.

"Immigrant Spaghetti"   
Farhan Mustafa  
The Bitter Southerner  

"How salmon fishing helped me embrace my Alaska Native identity"    
Kate Nelson  
Guardian US

"The Taste of Her Care"    
C Pam Zhang  
Esquire

Personal Essay with Recipes
This award recognizes excellence in an essay on any food- and/or drink-related topic with recipes. 

"The Sweet Solace of Grief Baking"    
Angela Burke  
Eater  

"Hidden Heritage —  A Search for Culture, Heirlooms, and My Grandma's Red Rice Recipe"  
Stephanie Grant  
Good Beer Hunting

"Market Volatility"    
Julia Langbein  
Bon Appétit

Profile
This award recognizes a single distinctive piece that brings to life the world of a chef, restaurateur, grower, producer, or other figure or group of significance to food and/or drink.

"Top of the Line"    
Hannah Goldfield  
The New Yorker  

"Maggie Harrison's War on Wine"    
Alex Halberstadt  
The New York Times Magazine  

"Fine Dining on Fire"   
 Jason Sheehan  
Philadelphia Magazine

Emerging Voice Awards
The James Beard Awards Emerging Voice winners in Books, Broadcast Media, and Journalism will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 8 as part of their respective categories.

 


 

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