Nach Waxman Prize shortlist

Earlier this week, Kitchen Arts & Letters announced the shortlist for the third annual Nach Waxman Prize. The prize was created following Waxman’s death to honor his dedication to food and beverage scholarship through his NYC bookstore, and “highlights a book of scholarship which invites the general public to seriously consider issues in culinary and beverage history, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, geography, and related fields.” Unlike most other book awards, the prize includes a cash award of $5,500 USD.

This year’s shortlist, for books published in 2025, includes the following (links are to Kitchen Arts & Letters if the book is not currently in the EYB Library):

• Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers & Activism from World War II to Covid-19 by Lori A. Flores
• Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato by Anny Gaul
• Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring: Adventures with the King of Fish by Graeme Rigby
• The Last Sweet Bite: Stories and Recipes of Culinary Heritage Lost and Found by Michael Shaikh
• The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity by Jordan G. Smith

The winner will be announced on May 5, 2026, followed by (date TBD) an online discussion between the prize winner and the panel of judges: Darra Goldstein, Morna Livingston, and Mayukh Sen.