Introducing the 2025 James Beard Media Award Nominees

Today, we announced the 2025 Media Awards nominees in advance of the 35th James Beard Awards® ceremonies presented by Capital One. The list includes nominees in Book, Broadcast Media, and Journalism categories. Winners will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony in Chicago on Saturday, June 14 at the Columbia College Chicago Student Center, which will be followed by a reception featuring Chicago chefs representing the city’s rich culinary scene.

Check out the nominees below!

2025 James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominees

The Book Awards are open to cookbooks and other nonfiction food- or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2024. Books from foreign publishers must bear a 2024 U.S. copyright date and/or must have been distributed in the U.S. during 2024. More information about the Book Awards eligibility and criteria can be viewed here.

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.

Breaking Bao: 88 Bakes and Snacks from Asia and Beyond
Clarice Lam
(Chronicle Books)

The Elements of Baking: Making any recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free or vegan
Katarina Cermelj
(Mobius Books)

Sift: The Elements of Great Baking
Nicola Lamb
(Clarkson Potter)

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

A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails For Any Mood
Lynnette Marrero and Ivy Mix with Megan Krigbaum
(Abrams)

The Bartender’s Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Bar
Jim Meehan and Bart Sasso with Emma Janzen
(Ten Speed Press)

The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home
Nicola Nice
(Countryman Press)

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.

Rebel School of Wine: A Visual Guide to Drinking with Confidence
Tyler Balliet
(Harvest)

Sake: The Art and Craft of Japan’s National Drink
Yoshiko Ueno-Müller
(Prestel)

The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition: More than 500 distilleries profiled and 480 expressions tasted
Dave Broom
(Mitchell Beazley)

Bread
Books with recipes focused on the art and craft of making bread, including ingredients, techniques, equipment, and traditions.

Modernist Bread at Home
Francisco Migoya and Nathan Myhrvold
(The Cooking Lab, LLC)

Richard Hart Bread: Intuitive Sourdough Baking
Richard Hart, Henrietta Lovell, and Laurie Woolever
(Clarkson Potter)

The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker
Jessica Battilana, Martin Philip, and Melanie Wanders
(S&S/Simon Element)

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.

The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos
Mark J. Easter
(Patagonia)

The Painful Truth about Hunger in America: Why We Must Unlearn Everything We Think We Know—and Start Again
Mariana Chilton
(MIT Press)

Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch
Andrea Freeman
(Metropolitan Books)

General
Books with recipes that address a broad scope of cooking, not just a single topic, technique, or region, and are accessible to a general audience.

Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook
Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh with Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley 
(Ten Speed Press)

Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes: A Cookbook
Carolina Gelen
(Clarkson Potter)

Soups, Salads, Sandwiches: A Cookbook
Matty Matheson
(Ten Speed Press)

International
Books with recipes focused on presenting cuisines of the world in their cultural context: their history, distinctive characteristics, and techniques.

The Balkan Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans 
Irina Janakievska
(Quadrille)

The Chinese Way: Classic Techniques, Fresh Flavors (A Cookbook)
Betty Liu
(Voracious)

The Salvi Soul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them
Karla Tatiana Vasquez 
(Ten Speed Press)

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

The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
Sara B. Franklin 
(Simon & Schuster)

Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Nicola Twilley 
(Penguin Press)

Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao’s Soul
Rowan Jacobsen
(Bloomsbury Publishing)

Professional and Restaurant
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.

Convivir: Modern Mexican Cuisine in California’s Wine Country
Rogelio Garcia and Andréa Lawson Gray
(Abrams)

Eleven Madison Park: The Plant-Based Chapter: A Cookbook
Daniel Humm
(Voracious)

Tipo 00: The Pasta Cookbook
Andreas Papadaki
(Murdoch Books)

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

Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor
Arielle Johnson
(Harvest)

Insatiable City: Food and Race in New Orleans
Theresa McCulla
(University of Chicago Press)

McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches
Gary He
(Self-published)

Single Subject
Books with recipes focused on a single ingredient, dish, or method of cooking.

The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen [A Cookbook]
Steve Sando with Julia Newberry
(Ten Speed Press) 

Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking (More than 60 Recipes Featuring Gochujang, Doenjang, and Ganjang)
Mingoo Kang with Nadia Cho and Joshua David Stein 
(Artisan)

The Turkey Book: A Chef’s Journal of Hunting and Cooking America’s Bird
Jesse Griffiths
(St. John Press)

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

Bayou: Feasting Through the Seasons of a Cajun Life
Melissa M. Martin
(Artisan)

Chinese Enough: Homestyle Recipes for Noodles, Dumplings, Stir-Fries, and More
Kristina Cho
(Artisan)

Our South: Black Food Through My Lens
Ashleigh Shanti
(Union Square & Co.)

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

Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking
Nisha Vora
(Avery)

Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking:Vegan Recipes, Tips, and Techniques [A Cookbook]
Joe Yonan 
(Ten Speed Press)

The Vibrant Hong Kong Table: 88 Iconic Vegan Recipes from Dim Sum to Late-Night Snacks
Christine Wong 
(Chronicle Books)

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

I Love You: Recipes from the Heart
Ditte Isager with Pamela Anderson, Maria Zizka, and Matthew Axe
(Voracious)

Koreaworld: A Cookbook
Robert Diaz and Alex Lau
(Clarkson Potter)

McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches
Gary He
(Self-published)

Emerging Voice in Books
This award recognizes work of immediate impact and lasting significance by a first-time published author whose unique perspective expands the reach of the subject matter. The Book Awards subcommittee selects the winner for this category, which will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 14.

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 honoree for this category, which will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 14.

2025 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award Nominees

The Broadcast Media Awards are given to nonfiction works in English exemplifying excellence and in keeping with the mission and values of the James Beard Foundation from digital and terrestrial media—radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, documentaries, online sites, social media—covering food and beverage topics appearing widely for the first time in the U.S. in 2024. More information about Broadcast Media Awards eligibility and criteria can be viewed here.

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

Loading Dock Talks with Chef Preeti Mistry
“Cream Pie with Telly Justice”
Airs on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms

Progressive Hedonist with Dana Cowin
“Collective Possibilities for a Better Future: Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson” 
Airs on: Heritage Radio Network

SOMM TV Podcast
“Escape From Iran”
Airs on: SOMM TV and all podcast platforms

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.

A People’s History of Kansas City
“Hydrox, The Original Oreo”
Airs on: KCUR.org and all podcast platforms

Chasing The Watermelon Man 
Airs on: KCRW

Post Reports
“Bacon: The Best-Kept Secret in Washington” 
Airs on: Post Reports

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

DIRT Colorado
Airs on: YouTube and Outside TV

Eater Vendors: Inside the Dangerous Dive for Sea Urchins: The Life of a Haenyeo
Airs on: Eater and YouTube

La Mera Mera Tamalera
Airs on: YouTube

Documentary Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in a food- or beverage-related documentary that is at least 15 minutes long.

The Donn of Tiki
Airs on: Various film festivals

The Man Who Feeds Gaza’s Children
Airs on: YouTube and Business Insider

MARCELLA
Airs on: PBS American Masters

Docuseries Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in a food- or beverage-related docuseries.

Hope in the Water
Airs on: PBS

Omnivore
Airs on: Apple TV+

World Eats Bread
Airs on: National Geographic Channel

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

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television
Airs on: Amazon Prime, PBS and YouTube

G.O.A.T.
Airs on: MasterClass

Jamie Oliver: Cooking for Less
Airs on: Prime Video, BBC, YouTube, Tastemade

Lifestyle Visual Media: This category honors excellence in food-centric talk shows and lifestyle programs that explore food or beverage alongside broader societal and cultural themes. Entries can range from interview-based shows featuring chefs and food personalities to those that delve into food history, science, and culture. This year, submissions to the Competition Visual Media category were included for consideration within the Lifestyle Visual Media category.

Lidia Celebrates America: Changemakers
Airs on: PBS

Relish
Airs on: PBS, Passport, TPT, TPT-2 and YouTube

Top Chef
Airs on: Bravo

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

Day With Mei
Airs on: Instagram, Substack, and TikTok

Little Fat Boy Frankie
Airs on: Instagram, TikTok, Substack and YouTube

Metemgee
Airs on: Instagram

Travel Visual Media
This category celebrates excellence in food- or beverage-focused travel shows. Entries should showcase the unique culinary culture and traditions of a specific region or country, highlighting the connection between people, food, regions, and communities.

America The Bountiful
Airs on: PBS

Drink: A Look Inside the Glass
Airs on: Apple TV, Prime Video, Tubi, Roku

Field Trip with Curtis Stone
Airs on: PBS

Emerging Voice in Broadcast Media
This award recognizes excellence in a body of work that could include food or beverage-related video, audio, or social media production whether broadcast, streamed, accessed online or through an app, produced by a new voice in the medium. A new voice is an individual that is early in their career or has not been recognized by an awards program or other formal recognition instrument. The Broadcast Media Awards subcommittee selects the winner for this category, which will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 14.

Broadcast Media Hall of Fame Award
This award recognizes a visionary individual who has revolutionized the way food is presented and discussed on television, radio, or streaming platforms. This person embodies the Foundation’s core values of Good Food for Good®. They use their platform to not only entertain but also educate and inspire viewers about the vast world of food. The Broadcast Media Awards subcommittee selects the honoree for this category, which will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 14.

2025 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award Nominees

The Journalism Awards recognize works in English and cover food- or drink-related content which were published—or self-published—in 2024 in any medium. More information about Journalism Awards eligibility and criteria can be viewed here.

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

“The best coffee for the planet might not be coffee at all”
L.V. Anderson  
Grist and Slate

“Detroit’s Third-Shift Bars Were a Lifeline. Now They’re a Dying Breed.”
Mickey Lyons
Punch 

“Want to Make Spirits in Thailand? Good Luck.” 
Craig Sauers
Punch

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.

“The farm bill hall of shame”; “The essential workers missing from the farm bill”; “Tribal nations want more control over their food supply”
Teresa Cotsirilos, Bridget Huber, and Claire Kelloway
Food & Environment Reporting Network and Mother Jones

“Chinese Skewers Are the Last Bastion of Late-Night Dining in the Bay”; “Sunnyvale’s Hottest Late-Night Food Spot Is the 24-Hour Indian Grocery Store”; “Taquerias Come and Go, but La Vic’s Orange Sauce Is Forever”
Thien Pham and Luke Tsai 
KQED

“The Deep Dish: Indigenous Foodways”; “The Deep Dish: Revitalizing Home Cooking”; “The Deep Dish: Food on the Ballot”
The Civil Eats Editors  
Civil Eats

Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award
This award recognizes discerning criticism or commentary that contributes to the larger discourse on food, drink, and related topics.

“Trump said Democrats Would Take Away Your Hamburgers. He’s the One Who Might.”; “Time to Bust the Meat Trust”; “Technology Can Help Reduce Food Waste on The Farm, But It’s Only Part of the Problem”
Ted Genoways
Food & Environment Reporting Network with The New York Times, Inverse, and The Washington Post 

“I’ll take the beef jerky at Sophy’s over your Wagyu steak anyplace else”; “So many mysteries at Star Leaf. But mainly, where’s the spice?”; “Momofuku responds to chili crunch backlash: ‘We wanted a name we could own’”
Jenn Harris
Los Angeles Times 

“New tasting menu dinners at Honeysuckle Provisions are provocative and delicious”; “The enduring, confusing, and always delicious Octopus Cart is still puffing along after 34 years”; “Loch Bar, a new high-end seafood spot on Broad, swings big and misses”
Craig LaBan
Philadelphia Inquirer

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.

“Our L.A. food critic’s highly specific guide to San Francisco dining”
Bill Addison
Los Angeles Times

“Best New Chefs”
Raphael Brion
Food & Wine

“Gastro Obscura’s Feast”
Anne Ewbank, Diana Hubbell, and Samantha O’Brien
Gastro Obscura

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

“How a grocery store fight fractured a Maryland town along racial lines”
Tim Carman
The Washington Post

“Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation”
Adam Iscoe
The New Yorker

“We Need to Talk About Trader Joe’s”
Adam Reiner
TASTE

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

The New Yorker

Texas Monthly

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.

“As Detroit sees a future in urban agriculture, some pushback harkens to a dark past”
Lyndsay C. Green 
Detroit Free Press 

“Transforming the Delta: Climate change is creating opportunities to turn America’s poorest region into a fruit- and vegetable-growing hub”
Robert Kunzig
Food & Environment Reporting Network and Switchyard

“Grief, Solidarity, and Molokhia”
Nylah Iqbal Muhammad
Eater

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.

“Your Gut Health Affects Almost Every System in Your Body—Are You Doing Enough to Care for It?”; I Took Long-Term Antibiotics for a Year—Here’s What I’m Eating to Help My Gut Health Bounce Back”; “We Asked a Gastroenterologist the Biggest Myths About Gut Health—This Is What He Said”
Jessica Ball, Danielle DeAngelis, and Shaun Dreisbach 
Eating Well 

“Florida Banned Farmworker Heat Protections. A Groundbreaking Partnership Offers a Solution.”
Grey Moran
Civil Eats 

“The U.S.-Mexico Tortilla War”
Alexander Zaitchik
Food & Environment Reporting Network and The Nation

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.

“The warmth of Black traditions around the Thanksgiving table”
Danielle Dorsey 
Los Angeles Times

“The Art and Science of Kimchi” 
Andrea Geary
Cook’s Illustrated

“Biryanis Build Flavor by the Layer”
JM Hirsch
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine

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

“Exposed: Latino farmworkers risk their health working under threat of pesticide exposure”
Patricia Clarembaux, Federica Narancio, and Esther Poveda 
Univision News Digital and Investigate Midwest

“Deadly Work for High-end: Poultry Pitman Farms, maker of ‘humane’ Mary’s Chicken brand, among most dangerous for workers”; “Family, friends grieve man who died at Sanger poultry plant. ‘A place for you in heaven’”; “How did Mary’s Chicken poultry worker drown in waste pit? Report reveals ‘infuriating’ details”
Melissa Montalvo 
The Fresno Bee

“The North Koreans behind global seafood”; “The Whistleblower”
Ian Urbina and the Staff of The Outlaw Ocean Project
The Outlaw Ocean Project and The New Yorker

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.

“Etta’s Five Bankruptcies Have Left a Collective Mess”; “White Sox Fans Came for the Losses, Stayed for the Milkshakes”; “Namasteak, USA”
Ashok Selvam
Eater Chicago

“Coming of Age”; “US farms are forcing workers to buy inedible, expensive meals: ‘It makes you feel enslaved’” (The Assembly and The Food Section); “A nimble New York grocery store follows Latino immigration to the south” (The Guardian)
Tina Vasquez
The Assembly and The Food Section; The Guardian

“Salmon’s New Symbolism”; “The Sports Bra and Rough and Tumble Are Just the Beginning”; “At Sophon, Cambodian Culture Meets Craft Cocktails” 
Allecia Vermillion
Seattle Met

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 City that Rice Built” 
Jeff Gordinier and George McCalman 
Food & Wine

“Clam South”
Caroline Hatchett
The Bitter Southerner

“The Food That Makes You Gay”
Jaya Saxena
Eater

Narrative Photography
This award recognizes exemplary storytelling through the use of photography within food culture. Entries in this category capture a visual narrative with skill, perspective, and style.

“How 9 families cope when they can’t afford 3 healthy meals a day for the kids”
Benedict De La Cruz, The Everyday Projects, and Emily Sohn
NPR.org

“The Only Constant is Chucks”
Rory Doyle
Self-Published

“A Brooklyn Gas Station with Serious Grub” 
Amy Lombard
The New Yorker

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

“Our Gluten Rumspringa”
Luke Pyenson 
TASTE

“The Hidden Hospitality Hazards When You’re Too Big for the Bar”
Brad Thomas Parsons
VinePair

"My Family’s Daily Struggle to Find Food in Gaza”
Mosab Abu Toha
The New Yorker

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

“A Cuisine Under Siege”
Laila El-Haddad
SAVEUR

“A Fat Affair”
Steve Hoffman
Food & Wine

“My Bourak, My Self”
Renee Eliah
Above the Fold

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.

“Black Earth”
Christina Cooke
The Bitter Southerner

“The Expanding Table: Honoring Palestinian Culinary Tradition in Arkansas”
Jordan P. Hickey
Longreads

“Padma Lakshmi Walks Into a Bar”
Helen Rosner
The New Yorker

Emerging Voice in Journalism
This award recognizes a journalist or media outlet whose excellent work brings a fresh perspective to an important aspect of food culture. The Journalism Awards subcommittee selects the winner for this category, which will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 14.