| EVENT REPORT 05.05.09 4:04 PM |
|
James Beard Awards Honor Women With Hot Pink Decor, Female Chefs
|
 | The Beard Awards' gala reception
Photo: Roger Dong for BizBash |
|
FROM NEW YORK
The James Beard Foundation returned to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall Monday night for its annual award ceremony and chef-filled gala reception. Widely considered one of the most prestigious honors in the food business, the event drew about 1,700 people to watch the award show and sample a smorgasbord of food at the reception afterward. In spite of—or perhaps in response to—the lagging economy and struggling restaurant industry, organizers didn't tone down the glamour of previous years, and went with punchy pink decor in tribute to women in food, this year's theme. The event featured an all-female roster of 23 chefs in the grand tasting, as well as women mixologists, wine makers, cheese makers, and other food producers, for a total of 60 stations.
Foundation president Susan Ungaro said the theme was chosen to celebrate the number of female food professionals who have won Beard awards—350 over the past 19 years—and because of the timing of the soon-to-be-released movie Julie & Julia, in which Meryl Streep plays Julia Child, a friend of James Beard and a founding member of the organization. "[The movie] offered us another opportunity to celebrate one of the great women chefs in history and her link to James Beard," said Ungaro. Sony pictures created a special trailer of the movie that played during the awards, which were co-hosted by Stanley Tucci (who plays Child's husband, Paul, in the movie), Cat Cora, and Emeril Lagasse.
MORE >>
RELATED TOPICS
James Beard Awards, James Beard Foundation, Stella Artois, Rums of Puerto Rico, Julia Child, Julie & Julia, Plymouth Gin |
 |
| NEWS 03.28.08 5:01 PM |
|
Desert Food Fest to Bring Beard-Nominated Campanile's Mark Peel
|
The Palm Springs Food and Wine festival, which earlier this month announced plans for solar power and other eco-friendly initiatives, has announced the chefs that will participate in demos at the April event series. Mark Peel, whose Campanile restaurant in Los Angeles was just nominated for a 2008 James Beard Foundation award for outstanding restaurant, will be among them. Beard award winner and Roy's restaurants founder and chef Roy Yamaguchi, the Food Network's Jill Davie, Providence co-owner and executive head chef Michael Cimarusti, and Grace executive chef and owner Neal Fraser are among the other participants.
The three-day festival will take place April 11 through 13. It will benefit the Culinary Institute of America and, locally, Desert AIDS Project. —Alesandra Dubin
RELATED TOPICS
Palm Springs Food and Wine Festival, James Beard Awards, Culinary Institute of America, Desert AIDS Project |
|
|
