Just What Are the James Beard Awards?

BY SUSAN MARQUEZ

There’s something very posh sounding about saying you are dining at a James Beard Award-winning restaurant, or that your meal was prepared by a James Beard Award-winning chef. But do you really know what a James Beard Award is?

Let’s start with James Beard himself. Born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon, James Beard was a cookbook author and chef who celebrated American cuisine and encouraged the use of fresh, seasonal ingredients.

The New York Times bestowed the title “dean of American Cookery” to Beard in 1954. He wrote twenty cookbooks between 1940 and 1983, many of which are still in print today. Recipes include regional favorites to international cuisine. Beard introduced Americans to new foods and techniques, not just through his cookbook, but through television cooking shows and at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, Oregon. From chefs in fine restaurants to home food enthusiasts, generations were trained and inspired by Beard’s passion for good food.

Through the annual James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards, James Beard is remembered and honored. The Awards are administered by the James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit organization established 30 years ago. The mission, according to the organization’s website, “is to celebrate, support, and elevate the people behind America’s food culture and champion a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity, and sustainability.”

The road to winning a coveted James Beard Award begins with the nomination process. Anyone can nominate a chef or restaurant through an online form on the James Beard Foundation’s website, and each year there are hundreds of entrants. The Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Award committee and a large panel of judges works to narrow the list down to semifinalists. That list is then narrowed down to nominees, and finally, winners, all overseen by James Beard volunteers.

This year, Mississippi is proud to have two semifinalists, both located in Jackson. The first is Hunter Evans of Elvie’s, a semifinalist for Best Chef, South, which includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

As a hospitality management major at University of Mississippi, Hunter discovered his love for cooking under the helm of acclaimed James Beard award winning chef John Currence, who won the award in 2009 as chef of City Grocery in Oxford. Evans continued his training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. A Jackson native with strong New Orleans ties, he named his restaurant, Elvie’s, after his grandmother. The food served in the restaurant is inspired by the time spent in his grandmother’s New Orleans kitchen and his travels through Europe. The restaurant’s website describes the menu as “a modern take on classic French cuisine through the lens of Southern culinary traditions and ingredients.”

In the Best New Restaurant category, Joseph Sambou’s restaurant, Sambou’s African Kitchen, is one you may not have discovered yet. The restaurant on County Line Road in Jackson was opened in March 2022 by Joseph Sambou, who immigrated to the United States with his family in 2007. His sister, Bibian, is the chef. Sambou’s African kitchen serves dishes from the family’s native Gambia, as well as dishes from Ethiopia and other African countries.

Sambou’s dishes are heavily spiced but can be toned down if requested. Everything is made from scratch daily. Meat is marinated in lemon juice and cooked slow to draw out the flavors. While the restaurant is their business, it is also an opportunity for the family to share African culture with Mississippians.

The awards nominees will be announced on March 29, and the winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony on June 5 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Find out more at JamesBeard. org. edm

“If you board it, they will come!” says Meagan Brown, “The BakerMama” and mother of four. Taking her first cues from her mother, who filled the dinner table’s lazy Susan and allowed people to help themselves, Brown now teaches her children to share and make choices to have a healthy relationship with food.

In Beautiful Boards, Brown shares what she calls “the snack board mind-set,” and asserts that any meal can be boarded. She also subscribes to well-known adage that we eat first with our eyes, and her boards are indeed feasts in every sense of the word. In three easy steps – gather ingredients and serving dishes, pile on the bounty, and eat! – Brown offers great ways to celebrate almost any holiday, event, or time of year.

Her list of “everything you need to get to start building” includes a wooden board (she recommends a 20” hardwood circle), serving bowls in various sizes ( 8 oz., 3 oz., and 1 oz.), cheese knives, small spoons, a honey dipper, and serving utensils. Remember, also, to prepare small serving plates, napkins, and toothpicks or forks.

When it comes to the actual ingredients, Brown insists that the sky is the limit and the only barriers are your imagination and

Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion, by

Maegan Brown

your palate. She has a few general tips, though, such as to always include fruit and veggies; to mix salty, sweet, crunchy and chewy; and to pay attention to the temperature when serving items that require chilling or to be served hot. Here are just a few of more than 50 delicious boards featured in Beautiful Boards:

Princess Board – a little girl’s pink fantasy featuring watermelon, birthday cake popcorn, strawberry marshmallows, pink jelly beans and M&Ms, and pink gummy candy

Take Me Out to the Ball Game – a white, rectangular tray filled with peanuts, giant salted pretzels with mustard dipping sauce, caramel corn, pickles, and hot dogs

Winter Wonderland – Brie cheeses in three sizes (3”, 4” and 6”) form the body of a “snowman” laying in a night sky made of blueberries and popcorn “snow”

Easter Candy – formed on an oval tray, assorted pastel candies and treats such as pink yogurt pretzels, yellow Jordan almonds, light blue M&Ms and purple jelly beans create a giant striped Easter egg. The book goes on to show how breakfast can be transformed in the Pancake Board – bacon, berries, bananas, chocolate chips, whipped cream and syrup – with all the toppings prechopped and nestled in small bowls. A similar board features bagels with tomatoes, cream cheese, lox, onions, capers, jams, and chopped fruit.

There’s even a section on Meal boards including Pizza Lovers, Build-Your-OwnTaco, Mediterranean Mezze, Grilled Cheese, and Cobb Salad. The Barbecue Board brings together ribs, grilled corn, baked beans, cole slaw, potato wedges, macaroni and cheese, and various kinds of bread.

The book ends with recipes for some of the ingredients, such as oatmeal chocolate chip bites, snack mix, Pigs-in-a-Blanket, potato latkes, and pumpkin cheese ball. Happy eating! edm