American dining: fast food, burgers, barbecue, fries, mac and cheese, apple pie, and perhaps a good milkshake or two. Now, that definition is changing as immigrants rise to the top of the American culinary industry. This year at the James Beard Awards, which are annually given to recognize outstanding food, beverage, and hospitality, over half of the chef and baker award nominees are immigrants or descendants of them, according to NPR. These awards are regarded as “the Oscars of the food industry,” and are widely considered to be the greatest prize in American dining. Among finalists are restaurants serving cultural dishes from around the globe in places like Oklahoma, Utah, and Connecticut.
This great leap in diversity comes after the James Beard Foundation, which presents the awards, committed to more racial and gender equity. The foundation also changed the voting process for the awards so that they include a larger variety of voices.
` “We’ve refocused on what is the purpose of these awards,” Dawn Padmore, the vice president of awards at the foundation, said. “It’s to award excellence. And excellence can look like anything, right?”
Furthermore, a fundamental change in the general population’s mindset has led to a more varied range of flavors on the American palate. People are now more willing to try foods of different cultures, and chefs hailing from around the world are more open to create dishes from their culture.
“There’s an appetite, I think, in terms of consumers to try these different kinds of cuisine,” Padmore said. “I also think a lot of chefs, maybe the younger generation, feel like they can just express their culture, their background in a more direct manner.”
As early as the Colombian Columbianexchange, America has become a place of connection, the middle of a global network spanning the continents—a network of food. Without the introduction of plants like potatoes, tomatoes, corn, peppers, beans, and strawberries to Europe, or the migration of carrots, cattle, rice, garlic, olives, lemons, and apples, among others to the Americas, the food cultures that we see today would not exist. This revolutionary exchange of ingredients created the cultures that we know today. Now, immigrants are once again changing the landscape of American dining by bringing those unique foods defined by ingredients from the exchange back into the country, creating a diverse melting pot of food that mixes, modifies, and adapts to different cultures. America has once again become a landmark of this global network of food.
“Nok” Chutatip Suntaranon, chef and owner of the Thai restaurant Kalaya in Philadelphia and winner of the Best Chef in the Mid Atlantic award, describes her own perspective on why America has embraced cultural foods so enthusiastically.
“I know my food is good,” Suntaranon said. “Once we present it with authenticity—just like being true to yourself and the flavors, I think people would feel the honesty about it.”
Serigne Mbaye, a finalist in the Emerging Chef award, recognizes how immigrants have shaped the industry and are sparking change by being nominated to the awards.
“People cannot deny our existence, you know? It’s great that it’s happening now,” Mbaye said. “But I think that it should have been happening for years.”
Mashama Bailey, the winner of the Outstanding Chef award, details the effects that these awards could have on society and for children of immigrants.
“Today, a little Black girl or a little Black boy can see themselves as a future Outstanding Chef,” Bailey said in her remarks. “They can see themselves in a space that they have never seen before, and do what they could not think is possible. And until just a few minutes ago, that was me.”
As immigrant restaurants gain more recognition, Chai Pani, the winner of the Outstanding Restaurant award with his Indian street food restaurant, shows the impact that food can make on global culture.
“Restaurants are so much greater than the sum of what’s inside the four walls,” Pani said. “A restaurant has the power to transform—transform the people that work there, transform the people that come in, transform the communities we’re in, transform society. Restaurants can transform the world.”
This great leap in diversity comes after the James Beard Foundation, which presents the awards, committed to more racial and gender equity. The foundation also changed the voting process for the awards so that they include a larger variety of voices.
` “We’ve refocused on what is the purpose of these awards,” Dawn Padmore, the vice president of awards at the foundation, said. “It’s to award excellence. And excellence can look like anything, right?”
Furthermore, a fundamental change in the general population’s mindset has led to a more varied range of flavors on the American palate. People are now more willing to try foods of different cultures, and chefs hailing from around the world are more open to create dishes from their culture.
“There’s an appetite, I think, in terms of consumers to try these different kinds of cuisine,” Padmore said. “I also think a lot of chefs, maybe the younger generation, feel like they can just express their culture, their background in a more direct manner.”
As early as the Colombian Columbianexchange, America has become a place of connection, the middle of a global network spanning the continents—a network of food. Without the introduction of plants like potatoes, tomatoes, corn, peppers, beans, and strawberries to Europe, or the migration of carrots, cattle, rice, garlic, olives, lemons, and apples, among others to the Americas, the food cultures that we see today would not exist. This revolutionary exchange of ingredients created the cultures that we know today. Now, immigrants are once again changing the landscape of American dining by bringing those unique foods defined by ingredients from the exchange back into the country, creating a diverse melting pot of food that mixes, modifies, and adapts to different cultures. America has once again become a landmark of this global network of food.
“Nok” Chutatip Suntaranon, chef and owner of the Thai restaurant Kalaya in Philadelphia and winner of the Best Chef in the Mid Atlantic award, describes her own perspective on why America has embraced cultural foods so enthusiastically.
“I know my food is good,” Suntaranon said. “Once we present it with authenticity—just like being true to yourself and the flavors, I think people would feel the honesty about it.”
Serigne Mbaye, a finalist in the Emerging Chef award, recognizes how immigrants have shaped the industry and are sparking change by being nominated to the awards.
“People cannot deny our existence, you know? It’s great that it’s happening now,” Mbaye said. “But I think that it should have been happening for years.”
Mashama Bailey, the winner of the Outstanding Chef award, details the effects that these awards could have on society and for children of immigrants.
“Today, a little Black girl or a little Black boy can see themselves as a future Outstanding Chef,” Bailey said in her remarks. “They can see themselves in a space that they have never seen before, and do what they could not think is possible. And until just a few minutes ago, that was me.”
As immigrant restaurants gain more recognition, Chai Pani, the winner of the Outstanding Restaurant award with his Indian street food restaurant, shows the impact that food can make on global culture.
“Restaurants are so much greater than the sum of what’s inside the four walls,” Pani said. “A restaurant has the power to transform—transform the people that work there, transform the people that come in, transform the communities we’re in, transform society. Restaurants can transform the world.”