The 2020 James Beard Media Award Winners were announced this week. The foundation honored writers, broadcasters, and photographers for their contributions on food.
This year’s winners include two new cookbooks dedicated to the continuance and mastery of regional traditions in Italian home cooking.
English food writer, Vicky Bennison, won the Single Subject category for her cookbook on Italian nonne, Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks. Vicky spent years touring Italy, documenting recipes, and interviewing over 250 women. Her work became a YouTube sensation.
“The book would not have been possible without Italian ‘signore anziane’ happily sharing their experience and expertise with us,” she wrote on Instagram. Read our review of the cookbook published last October.
Eric Wolfinger, the “Annie Liebovitz of food photography” according to The New York Times, was honored for his photos of chef Evan Funke creating perfect sheets of pasta (all by hand) in the cookbook, American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta.
Roads & Kingdom founder, Matt Goulding, captured the Dining and Travel category for his adventurous chronicle of pizza in Japan, “In Pursuit of the Perfect Pizza,” published by Airbnb Magazine.
And last, but not least, Netflix’s culinary series, “Chef’s Table,” took the Visual and Audio Technical Excellence category. The series ventures into the kitchens of restaurant greats, like Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana and Nancy Silverton’s Mozz Osteria in Los Angeles.
[Cover photo credits to ibunbury]