You read that right. I can barely believe that I got to type that. Last Friday in New York, in front of about 600 people, The Pho Cookbook was awarded one of the culinary world’s highest accolades, a James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence.
Who is that man on the medal? The late James Beard was a great champion of American food, not just in a monolithic sense but also in a diverse manner. He was opinionated and curious. He appreciated thoughtful home cooking as much as fine restaurant fare. My cookbook collection includes many works by Beard.
The Beard Foundation works to spotlight American food culture and earlier this year, it announced an America’s Classics Award to Dong Phuong, a Vietnamese bakery and restaurant in New Orleans. I was so cheered by the recognition of Viet food as a part of the mainstream American table.
In 2007, I was nominated for a Beard award for Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and didn’t think that The Pho Cookbook, a slim volume focused on one dish, would merit Beard attention. But it did, in the single subject category of food books, and there were many friends and colleagues, including my editor Kelly Snowden, in the room last Friday to support the book and me.
My editor, Kelly Snowden. She had two (2) books that won this year at the Beard Awards — mine and a champagne book that my friend Kate Leahy helped to write.
This year’s Beard nomination was my seventh cookbook award nomination (the other five came from the International Association of Culinary Professionals). I’d not won until this year and didn’t expect to really win (despite encouragement from my parents, who lit a candle in church for me last Thursday, and friends like cookbook author extraordinaire Grace Young). But I’d been thinking in fragmented terms about what it would mean if I did win someday. I didn’t rehearse an acceptance speech but these words came out of my mouth:
Thanks to Scott Hocker, a long-time friend and fellow nominee, for the recording and subsequent tweet. Someone dubbed it the “Un-Pho-Gettable” speech.
But I knew that I was part of something bigger as soon as I arrived at the event’s pre-dinner reception. The room was packed with a rainbow of people. For many years, food media has been monochromatic but recently, that’s changed with participation not only from people of color but also from colorful people who are doing interesting, impactful work.
Michael Twitty won for best book of the year for The Cooking Gene. I’ve been following his work for years and was thrilled he received such a high honor. Researcher and writer Andrea Weigl and I met years ago at a food writing workshop and got to catch up. This is the kind of awesomeness that made the evening extra special.
Mayukh Sen is in his mid-twenties and won this year for a moving essay on Princess Pamela, a long-overlooked goddess in food. We couldn’t believe that we were both nominated and a couple hours after this photo was taken, we had both won! Huzzah!
Jim Meehan, one of the most creative minds in mixology today and author of Meehan’s Bartender Manual, sat next to me at the ceremony. We must have been each other’s good luck charms because we both won! Ten Speed Press, our publisher, was doubly happy.
I was thrilled to be in the company of so many sheroes, heroes, friends, colleagues and comrades — including Maria Godoy (NPR’s the Salt), Shane Mitchell, Sean Sherman (The Sioux Chef), Osayi Endolyn (Gravy) and Lisa Donovan. All nominees are winners because getting into the final running for a Beard award reflects outstanding work. There were about 1,300 entries for the media awards this year.
Here are the full listings of nominees and winners (yes, they chose a photo of me to lead the masthead for the winners roundup!).
I’m feeling extremely blessed and proud. Just today, @ktkinoakland instagramed a bowl of homemade pho in honor of my Beard Award. The JBA medal is amazing but I also consider people using and loving the Pho book as a major win. It’s a Nguyen-win situation. 😉
Thanks for being part of my pho-nomenal journey!
Congratulations on the James Beard award! Correct me if I am wrong but it’s ranked right up there with the Academy award! Such a prestigious award! You’ve earned it! We are so proud of you!
Thank you Ann! The Beard Awards are indeed like the Oscars of the culinary world. I greatly appreciate your support!
Congratulations Andrea – very well deserved. Love all of your work and am happy to see it being recognized 🙂 Well done – I am so happy for you!
Thank you so much, Nina! I’m over the moon about it.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You deserve this! Thank you for allowing us all into your wonderful relationship with food. I am grateful to the culinary world for recognizing the strength of the american cuisine is in foods that have immigrated to America. Thank you for your willingness to come to this sometimes difficult country and sharing your beautiful and delicious culinary magic.
Thank you for taking time to write such a thoughtful note! I so appreciate it.
Wow, you must be over the moon, since a James Beard award is really quite an achievement. How wonderful that your passion has been recognized.
It is damn wonderful! Thank you, Susan!
Love seeing this, and you should feel proud! You’ve earned it.
You’ve nudged me along, sister!
Congratulations on a well deserved award!
I own three of your cookbooks, Vietnamese Kitchen, Asian Dumplings and Pho, and all three are keepers.
OMG — I hope my publisher reads this! Thank you so much!
Congrats and well deserved!!! We are loving your book!!!
That mean A LOT, Rosa!
Congratulations! It’s wonderful to see you get the recognition that you deserve. Thanks for being a role model and inspiration!
Thank you, Terri! You’ve contributed to the journey big time!
Congratulations! Much deserved recognition for an incredible book. I am so very happy for you. I hope you keep writing and publishing
Thank you and it’s been an unusual career that’s unfolded. Cheers!
Congratulations, Andrea! I’m so excited for you, and you deserve the honor. It was such a thrill to meet you in person and take the pho class from you at Cakebread Cellars. Your cookbooks are sitting next to me right now. It’s been crazy since the class so I haven’t made any pho yet, but I did make a tendon broth based off of the pho broth principles you taught us in the class. Our family is planning to have a family night and make one of your dumpling recipes together from your Asian Dumplings book as a shared activity, as soon as we get into summer and things quiet down.
Buffy! Thanks so much for for taking time to write. I know how busy you are! Loved cooking with you and your friends at Cakebread. That was such pho fun.
Thanks for the conversation about sous vide, too! Hope to see you again sooner than later.
Wow, I always knew your blog and cookbooks were the best, and now it has been validated by none other than the James Beard award, congratulations.
Jim, you made me blush big time. Thank you for all the support. =D
Congratulations!!! Much deserved. I am so grateful for your excellent teaching and wonderful books. I use them all. Most recently I whipped up a batch of pressure cooker chicken pho just as I was getting hit hard by some virus. That broth was the best part of the next couple of days especially since there were lectures I had to still give regardless of how I felt. Thanks for helping me get through the week!
Cindy, to be rescued by pho during an illness is a blessing indeed. The pressure cooker is a pho game changer and I’m so happy that I was able assist in your recovery in a small way. And you didn’t miss a beat in your lectures! Brava.
Congratulations, you deserve it! Your books and craftsy classes are excellent.
Thank you so much, Anne!
Hooray! I am so happy for you!
I’ve been trying to replicated the Bahn Mi’s at Siagon Bakery in LA and just from a few tips from your website, you got me closer than just about anybody. And with more ease.
Yay you and I’m off to check out your books!
Thanks, Happybaker! Enjoy!
Congratulations!! I can’t tell you how happy I am that this award further proves what we’ve already known about you, your blog, and your excellent cookbooks. Well-deserved praise for you!
Thank you, Laura! You were part of the team that made all of this happen. Thanks for being a friend and great recipe tester.
Congratulations Andrea on such a well-deserved award and honor! I have been following your recipes for years. It is because of your culinary skills and ability to teach through your blog that I learned how to make Bo Luc Lac for the first time as well as Pho. Thanks to you I have become a better Vietnamese cook and have surprised my very own Vietnamese mother of what I can do in the kitchen and more. You have influenced, inspired and encouraged many of us to love Vietnamese food. Finally Vietnamese cuisine is on the map as and recognized as a part of American cuisine. I am incredibly proud of you!!!
Thank you for taking time to write. Keep the Viet food traditions alive by cooking and staying curious.
Hi Andrea, I have cook some pho recipes. But there is a lingering aftertaste from my broth and not as smooth as pho eating out. Do you know about this? Or maybe my beef bones has something in them.
Hi Vinh — What is the lingering aftertaste. Is it good or bad? Do you like it? Commercial pho broth is often diluted from a concentrate, then seasoned with sugar, MSG and fish sauce. The level of dilution makes it less strong tasting than homemade. If you use quality bones and leave some fat, the lingering aftertaste of fat and spices is what you may sense as the difference.
Tell me more…