The James Beard Foundation Awards, considered the Oscars of the culinary world, annually recognize the nation's best regional chefs and restaurants. And now they're acknowledging what we already knew: Texas is a region unto itself.
The JBF Tuesday announced plans to expand its current geographic award categories next year from 10 to 12. That update will make Texas its own region, reflecting the Lone Star State's growing culinary influence in the national food scene.
“The national restaurant scene and the populations that fuel it are constantly shifting,” said Mitchell Davis, chief strategy officer for the James Beard Foundation. The public is invited to the JBF's Reddit AMA at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18, to ask Davis about the recent change.
No telling how the changes will affect the nomination process for the James Beard Awards, but hopefully it means some wins for San Antonio chefs. Despite numerous nominations, no San Antonio chefs have won the James Beard Awards, in any category, since they were first presented in 1991.
This story has been edited to clarify that San Antonio chefs have been nominated, but not won JBF awards since 1991.
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