James Beard Foundation 2024 Media Award Nominees

The James Beard Foundation has announced the nominees for its 2024 Media Awards, which includes cookbooks. The Book Awards are open to cookbooks and other non-fiction food or beverage-related books that were published in the United States in 2023. In a press release, Erica Skolnik, Chair of the James Beard Foundation’s Book Awards program, said “Food is more than sustenance—it’s also a window into history, culture, and tradition. Congratulations to this year’s Book Award nominees, who have beautifully captured the narratives and stories behind the foods and cuisines we cherish.” Note: This year the Bread category was moved into Baking as there were so few titles that qualified for that title.

The nominees include many of our favorite authors and EYB Members will recognize almost every book on this list including, in the Baking category:

• Dark Rye & Honeycake: Festival Baking from Belgium, the Heart of the Low Countries by Regula Ysewijn
• Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed by Abi Balingit
• More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community by Natasha Pickowicz.

The General category pits A Cook’s Book by Nigel Slater against Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly and The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler.

Additional nominees of note to our Members include:

• Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation by Clarissa Wei in International
• My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora by Yewande Komolafe in International
• The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope by José Andrés and World Central Kitchen in International
• Pasta Every Day: Make It, Shape It, Sauce It, Eat It by Meryl Feinstein in Single Subject
• Rintaro: Food and Stories from a Japanese Izakaya in California by Sylvan Mishima Brackett in Restaurant and Professional
• Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, & Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin in Beverages with Recipes

See all of the outstanding books vying for honors in each category on our James Beard 2024 page. There you will also find links to previous years’ nominees and winners. The JBF website also lists the nominees for a variety of categories in Broadcast Media, which includes traditional television and print journalism along with websites. The James Beard Foundation Media Awards ceremony will take place on the campus of Columbia College Chicago on Saturday, June 8.