JAMES BEARD

The Father of Modern American Cookery

Now that the James Beard Foundation awards for this year are over and, BTW  congratulations again to all the winners, I can pour myself a glass of champagne and remember Jim.

Jim was not as large as his hero, the mountainous Fernand Point, but his bald head, height well over six feet, baby blue linen suit and pink scarf, and gold wire filigree bracelet around his huge wrist fluttering over a bowl of pot-au-feu as he exclaimed in booming voice, “EXQUISITE!” all made him stand out in a crowd. 

He was instantly recognizable, and he liked that.

Born a Tauran and as big as a bull in Portland, Oregon in 1903, Beard learned cooking at his mother’s boarding house, but it was not until forty-five years later, after trying every form of theatricals that he found food again, this time in New York. Fame soon followed. In the 1960’s he was as well-known as Julia Child, and that without television. By the time he died in 1985 he was the most famously respected culinary figure in the United States.

So r…