The James Beard Foundation, which honors excellent American chefs, restaurants and bars each year at a gala ceremony, said Thursday that they will no longer announce winners for their awards in 2020 and 2021, with the quotes from the pandemic that the restaurants have closed and continue to destroy the economy.
The foundation had already released its list of finalists for the Chef and Restaurant Award for 2020, and announced winner of its media awards, earlier this year. Now, broadcast in a virtual ceremony live via Twitter on 25 sept. the foundation will honor previously announced honors in categories such as America’s Classics, Lifetime Achievement and Humanitarian of the Year.
No prizes will be awarded in 2021; the organization, which is based in New York City, said it would be unfair because of the problems with restaurants.
The foundation’s chief executive, Clare Reichenbach, said in a statement that the awards would return, but that the honor “feels less than compared to the difficult situation we are in.”
“The foundation is of the opinion that the mission of Awards will not do much to improve the sector in its current emerging struggle,” the statement read. “The usual positive impact of the Awards on restaurant and chef companies is unlikely to be fully realized due to the current state of the sector.”
For decades, the Beard Awards have been considered the Oscars of the food industry. But as more restaurants close by, and bars and restaurants are identified as a focal point for clusters of infections, the future of the sector is precarious. Talks about racial justice have inspired calls for change in the food sector and questioned the Leonization of powerful chefs; the foundation said it would conduct a review to investigate and address bias in its selections of candidates and winners.
Questions have been raised for years about the honesty and validity of various restaurant honors, and they only increased during the pandemic. Eater NY reported last week that Michelin guides have returned their inspections of restaurants in New York City, a move that luts ire on social media.
“I do not know if it will be fair or not, because some restaurants are concerned and some restaurants can do nothing,” said Ellia Park, owner of Korean restaurants Atoboy and Atomix, which has two Michelin stars, the website.
On Monday, David Kinch, the chef of the award-winning Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos, California, withdrew his name from attention for the Beard Awards.
“The idea of celebrating achievements – and all that our @Manresarestaurant team has achieved – just does not feel right in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, and the devastation it has inflicted on our chosen metier and sector,” he wrote he on Instagram.
