Black culture speaks loudly at 2024 James Beard Awards

“This is a very special night and something that we’re proud of, we’re here to celebrate our success.” Words from James Beard Award winner Marcus Samuelsson, an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American, restaurateur, and author.

Known as the Oscars of the food world, the James Beard Awards are among the nation’s most prestigious culinary and food media honors. The James Beard Foundation (JBF), the nonprofit organization that hosts the James Beard Awards, has focused on strengthening and making the restaurant industry more equitable by creating opportunities for marginalized groups.    

Held in Chicago, the Awards celebrate the nation’s best chefs, restaurant owners, and food journalists. Celebrating (and crying) is exactly what happened when HYFIN attended the special night. HYFIN spoke about the incredible occasion with a few nominees, winners, and presenters.

 “There are so many Black and brown faces here representing their work, art, and culture… [the JBF] is on the right path in understanding that more needs to be done.” The Emerging Leadership Award recognizes “exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system,” said Christa Barfield, winner of a 2024 Emerging Leadership Award. 

Barfield is also the owner of FarmerJawn, a 128-acre working farm and the largest Black-owned food grower in Pennsylvania. For her work in addressing food apartheid, the USDA recognized her as a nutrition security champion. 

“Black bodies built the agricultural landscape of America. We’re helping people get back to that, helping people feel confident and not stigmatized by soil,” she added. “Over the last 100 years, Black people have lost 16 million acres of land that they had ownership of, and we’re focused on stewardship – stewarding land properly, as regeneratively as possible, as organically as possible.” 

Dr. Myron Beasley, a member of the Restaurant and Chef Awards subcommittee, spoke about how the JBF has highlighted diversity in culinary traditions. “Good food can be found in the periphery in food trucks or pop-ups in somebody’s garage on the weekend…that’s what we mean by thinking about diverse ways of acknowledging Black culinary traditions,” he said.

Other big winners for the night included: 

Best New Restaurant, Dakar NOLA, New Orleans, LA

Chef Serigne Mbaye, started a pop-up restaurant before opening a permanent location in 2022. His restaurant blends his Senegalese roots with Creole flavors. “The South got something to say,” Mbaye exclaimed while accepting his honor and mirroring rap-duo Outkast’s famous line from the 1995 Source Awards. Reflecting on how he was taught Creole and French culinary techniques, he said, “I always knew that West Africa has something to say.” 

Best Chef, New York, Charlie Mitchell 

Chef and co-owner of Brooklyn-based restaurant Clover Hill, Mitchell first made history by becoming the first Black chef in New York City to earn a Michelin star. Now, he can add James Beard Award winner to his list of accolades.  

The JBF launched the Black and Indigenous Fund in 2020 to provide financial resources for majority-owned food and beverage businesses by Black or Indigenous individuals. 

In a statement, the JBF said, “This new Fund is part of the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to continually lift the Black and Indigenous business owners in our industry, not just in light of the pandemic, but for good.” That focus underscores the idea that foodways can change America and celebrates that food in this country is rooted in Black and Indigenous peoples’ experiences. 

Read the full announcement of all the James Beard Award winners here.