James Beard Foundation awards "Cookbooks of the Year," honoring Keller and Irish food

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On May 2, The James Beard Foundation held their annual Media & Book Awards in New York City, with Thomas Keller of Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry taking honors for the General Cooking category. Here is a selection of the cookbook and blog winners including Cookbook of the Year, Best Video Webcast and Food Blog.

The cookbooks receiving awards:

American Cooking: Real Cajun by Donald Link with Paula Disbrowe

Baking and Dessert: Baking by James Peterson

Beverage: Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology by Randall Grahm

Cooking from a Professional Point of View: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts by The French Culinary Institute with Judith Choate

General Cooking: Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

Healthy Focus: Love Soup: 160 All-New Vegetarian Recipes by Anna Thomas

Cookbook of the Year/International: The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews

Photography: Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way by Santiago Solo Monllor

Reference and Scholarship: Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta Zanini de Vita, translated by Maureen B. Fant

Single Subject: Pasta Sfoglia by Ron Suhanosky, Colleen Suhanosky

Writing and Literature: Save the Deli by David Sax

Cookbook Hall of Fame: A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Other media awards

Audio Webcast or Radio Show: The Kojo Nnamdi Show hosted by Kojo Nnamdi?
TV Food Personality: Andrew Zimmern from ?Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern ?on The Travel Channel

Video Webcast: The Greenmarket: One Farmer's Story produced by Serious Eats, Optic Nerve; http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/08/serious-eats-at-the-greenmarket-one-farmers-story-rick-bishop.html#axzz0mPpvEYtc

Food Blog: Seriouseats.com
Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurants, or Nutrition: Chow.com

The rest of the finalists in categories concerning chefs and restaurants will be awarded at the JBF Awards Gala in New York City the evening of May 3.

The nomination process does involve entry fees and Eater.com, a food news site, posted this early on May 3, "For those wondering why certain favorites (Eater, the New York Times) aren't on this list, it's because journalism nominees must nominate themselves and pay a fee to the Foundation, something some publications will not do."

To stay current with JBF, follow them on twitter http://twitter.com/beardfoundation and to see all of the finalists competing in Monday night's Foodie Oscars, go to: http://jbfawards.com/documents/JBF_Awards10_Nominees_000.pdf

All of the cookbooks are also on sale via The James Beard Foundation Store on Amazon: http://astore.amazon.com/thejambeafou-20?node=2&page=1