EP #46: Let's Talk about the James Beard Awards, The Oscars of the Food World

We live in a fantastic food town, so you've likely seen that many of our local chefs—Bruell, Umansky, Small and Vedaa to name a few—have been nominated for James Beard Awards. A few of them, Michael Symon and Jonathan Sawyer even won the coveted Best Chef-Great Lakes (though neither are still personally working out of the city).

What are these awards? Who was James Beard? And what does winning one do for the profile of a chef?

In this conversation with Dawn Padmore, VP of Awards, and Tanya Holland, an accomplished chef and the Chef/Chair of the JBF Foundation we heard about the mission of the organization and what it aims to do beyond recognizing chefs for their excellence. You may be surprised that they have many dimensions and work on issues, advocacy and furthering the opportunities for culinary pros in all stages of their careers.

This episode is presented with support from Chef Douglas Katz and Ohio Wines.