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James Beard

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: James Beard
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(born May 5, 1903, Portland, Ore., U.S. — died Jan. 23, 1985, New York, N.Y.) U.S. culinary expert and cookbook author. In 1945 he became the first chef to demonstrate cooking on network television. Through his Greenwich Village cooking school he influenced such future chefs as Julia Child and Craig Claiborne (b. 1920 — d. 2000). He championed simple American and English dishes and wrote one of the first serious books on outdoor cooking. His more than 20 cookbooks include James Beard's American Cookery (1972) and Beard on Bread (1973).

For more information on James Beard, visit Britannica.com.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: James Beard
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Beard, James, 1903-85, American cooking teacher, b. Portland Oregon. His interest in food was encouraged by his mother, who had been a hotel proprietor. He was a syndicated columnist, a frequent guest on television and radio, and an adviser to restaurateurs and food manufacturers. He briefly hosted his own television program, I Love to Cook (1946-47). In 1955, Beard established a cooking school in his Greenwich Village home, where he taught until he was 81. It is now The James Beard House, America's first culinary center and a showcase for chefs. His belief in the virtues of American cuisine helped create a gastronomic revolution in the United States. Beard wrote some two dozen cookbooks, including American Cooking (1972) and The Cook's Catalogue (1975).
Dictionary: Beard, James Andrew
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1903-1985.

American cookery expert widely considered to be one of the foremost authorities on American cuisine.


Food & Culture Encyclopedia: James Beard
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Born in Portland, Oregon, Beard (1903–1985) spent most of his life in New York, spanning the continent as the father of American cooking and as the larger-than-life champion of American foods, reveling in their glorious abundance and variety. His father was a "Mississippi gambler type" who skipped town while his English mother, Mary Elizabeth Jones, an émigré to Portland, firmly ruled her son, her Gladstone Hotel, and the Chinese chefs in its kitchen. In his culinary memoir Delights and Prejudices (1969), Beard gives a fine account of growing up amid the backstairs comedy of the Gladstone, a drama which no doubt influenced his lifelong passion for the theater.

At nineteen he went to London to become an opera singer and then to New York to become an actor. To keep from starving, he opened a catering shop called Hors d'Oeuvre with friends in 1937 and three years later published his first cookbook, Hors d'Oeuvres & Canapes, followed by Cook It Outdoors in 1941. By combining food with showmanship, he channeled his theatrical energy into writing and single-handedly created the drama of American food. Over the next four decades—after a stint in the army and the United Seamen's Service, opening navy canteens—he would publish more than twenty books in addition to making extensive contributions to House & Garden's single-subject cookbook series and writing numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. With the publication of The James Beard Cookbook in 1959, he became America's leading food guru, preaching the gospel of honest American food to those who had earlier looked exclusively to Europe for guidance in all things culinary.

At six feet four inches, weighing 310 pounds at his heaviest, he was as large as his subject, and his persona matched his message. He was among the first to promote both on television, when he appeared with Elsie the Cow for the Borden Company on NBC in 1946. He also initiated a new style of domestic cooking school to urge ordinary home cooks to take pleasure in their food. In 1955, he began the James Beard Cooking School in New York and soon added one in Seaside, Oregon. By teaching in all sorts of venues across the country, he created a network of devoted followers who continued to spread the word after his death.

That word was "fun." During the postwar decades of affluence, he taught Americans, who had survived the Depression, World War II austerity, and native Puritanism, to have fun with cooking, eating, and living in the American way. His 1972 American Cookery defined and celebrated the tradition of American cooking he had inherited from a body of cookbooks that began before the Civil War with Mary Randolph and Eliza Leslie and stretched to his contemporaries Irma Rombauer and Helen Evans Brown. While his appetite for traveling was as large as his girth, and while he spent much time in France, he sieved the flavors of other countries through his own American palate to create a menu that was always exciting because of the new combinations it offered. While his meals and menus were eclectic, he would say that it was the cook, not a country or a culture, that unified a meal. His culinary library in the 12th Street townhouse he owned in Greenwich Village was vast, and he was instrumental in directing his cooking students toward the literature of cooking.

In 1986, his house became a living theater honoring his name and his mission as the headquarters for the James Beard Foundation, where chefs from around the world showcase their skills. Through events such as the annual celebration of Beard's Birthday and Beard Awards for members of the food industry, the Foundation has established a generous scholarship fund and a national network of chefs, writers, and restaurateurs.

Onion Sandwiches

 Brioche loaf or good white bread, sliced very thin
 White onions, peeled and sliced very thin
 Mayonnaise, preferably homemade
 Chopped parsley

Cut the brioche or bread into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Spread the rounds lightly with mayonnaise. Divide into two batches. Arrange a layer of onion slices on one batch and top with the other. Press together gently. Roll the edges in mayonnaise and then in the chopped parsley. Pile on a serving dish and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

—Love and Kisses, p. 364

"It has always been my contention that the people of the Western European countries ate pretty dull food until the discovery of America."

"Like the theater, offering food and hospitality to people is a matter of showmanship, and no matter how simple the performance, unless you do it well, with love and originality, you have a flop on your hands."

"The kitchen, reasonably enough, was the scene of my first gastronomic adventure. I was on all fours. I crawled into the vegetable bin, settled on a giant onion and ate it, skin and all. It must have marked me for life, for I have never ceased to love the hearty flavor of raw onions."

—Delights and Prejudices

Bibliography

Beard, James. Love and Kisses and a Halo of Truffles: Letters to Helen Evans Brown. Edited by John Ferrone. New York: Arcade, 1994.

Clark, Robert. James Beard: A Biography. New York: Harper-Collins, 1993.

Jones, Evan. Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard. New York: Knopf, 1990.

—Betty Fussell

Quotes By: James Beard
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Quotes:

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart, who looks at her watch."

Wikipedia: James Beard
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For New Zealand architect James (Jim) Beard, see James Beard (architect).
 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (December 2007)
James Beard
Born May 5, 1903 (1903-05-05)
Portland, Oregon, United States
Died January 21, 1985 (1985-01-22) (aged 81)
New York City, New York, United States
Cooking style French, Chinese
Official Website

James Andrew Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American chef and food writer.

Contents

Importance

James Beard is the central figure in the story of the establishment of a gourmet American food identity. He was an eccentric personality who brought French cooking to the American middle and upper classes in the 1950s. Many consider him the father of American-style gourmet cooking. His legacy lives on in twenty books, numerous writings, his own foundation, and his foundation's annual Beard awards in various culinary genres.

Background

Beard was born in Portland, Oregon, to Elizabeth and John Beard. His mother operated The Gladstone Hotel and his father worked at the city's customs house. The family vacationed on the Pacific coast in Gearhart, Oregon. Here, Beard was exposed to the unique local foods of the Pacific Northwest, including seafood and wild berries.

James Beard's earliest memory of food was the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905 when he was just two years old. Beard in his memoir recalls: "I was taken to the exposition two or three times. The thing that remained in my mind above all others — I think it marked my life — was watching Triscuits and shredded wheat biscuits being made. Isn't that crazy? At two years old that memory was made. It intrigued the hell out of me."[1] Beard started his life bedridden with malaria at the age of three.[2] Beard's sickness gave him time to eat and enjoy the food prepared by his mother and their Chinese helper.[3] Beard's early childhood and the influence that Chinese cooking had on him helped prepare him for a later life at the forefront of culinary American chic. According to Beard, he was raised by Thema and Let who instilled a passion for Chinese culture.[4] According to David Kamp, "in 1940 — he realized that part of his mission [as a food connoisseur] was to defend the pleasure of real cooking and fresh ingredients against the assault of the Jell-O-mold people and the domestic scientists."[5] Beard lived in France in the 1920s.[6] Consequently, Beard experienced French cuisine at bistros. As a result of Beard's exposure and subsequent influence of French culinary culture he became a Francophile.

Education

According to the James Beard Foundation, "After a brief stint at Reed College in Portland,"[7] (from which he was expelled in 1922 for homosexual activity[8]) "in 1923 Beard went on the road with a theatrical troupe. He lived abroad for several years studying voice and theater, but returned to the United States for good in 1927."[7]

Career

He trained initially as a singer and actor, and moved to New York City in 1937. Not having much luck in the theater, he and his friend, Bill Rhodes, capitalized on the cocktail party craze by opening a catering company, "Hors d'Oeuvre, Inc.", which led to the publication of Beard's first cookbook, Hors D'Oeuvre and Canapés, a compilation of his catering recipes. Rationing difficulties during World War II brought his catering business to a halt. In 1946, he appeared on an early televised cooking show, I Love to Eat, on NBC, and thus began his rise as an eminent American food authority.

According to Julia Child, Beard was on the culinary road map in 1940 with the publication of his first book, Hors d'Oeuvre and Canapés.[9] Beard started out with a catering business in New York, followed by lecturing, teaching, and writing both books and articles.[10] Child states, "Through the years he gradually became not only the leading culinary figure in the country, but 'The Dean of American Cuisine'."[10] According to the James Beard Foundation website: "In 1955, he established The James Beard Cooking School. He continued to teach cooking to men and women for the next 30 years, both at his own schools (in New York City and Seaside, Oregon), and around the country at women's clubs, other cooking schools, and civic groups. He was a tireless traveler, bringing his message of good food, honestly prepared with fresh, wholesome, American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage."[11]

James Beard brought French cooking to the American middle and upper classes in the 1950s. Beard starred on TV as a cooking personality. David Kamp notes that this show was the first cooking show on TV.[12] Kamp contrasts Dione Lucas's cooking show and cooking school with that of James Beard, noting also that their prominence in the 1950s marked the emergence of a New York-based, nationally- and internationally-known sophisticated food culture.[13] Kamp notes, "It was in this decade [the 1950s] that Beard made his name as 'James Beard,' the brand name, the face and belly of American gastronomy."[14] Kamp points out that Beard was able to meet Alice B. Toklas on a trip to Paris,[15] illustrating Beard's extensive network of fellow food celebrities that would follow him throughout his life and carry on his legacy after his death.

Beard entered into an endorsement project with the Green Giant canned food company.[16] Kamp explains that Beard felt that he was a "gastronomic whore" for doing so.[17] Apparently massed produced food that was neither fresh, local or seasonal was a betrayal of Beard's gastronomic beliefs, but this was rooted in his desire to pay for his cooking schools.[17]

In 1981, along with friend Gael Greene, Beard founded Citymeals-on-Wheels, which continues to help feed the home-bound elderly in New York City.

Beard continued throughout the rest of his career to sign endorsement deals promoting products that he might otherwise have not endsorsed, had it not been for financial constraints.

Personal life

Julia Child accurately sums up Beard's personal life in a brief description: "Beard was the quintessential American cook. Well-educated and well-traveled during his eighty-two years, he was familiar with many cuisines but he remained fundamentally American. He was a big man, over six feet tall, with a big belly, and huge hands. An endearing and always lively teacher, he loved people, loved his work, loved gossip, loved to eat, loved a good time."[18] Child's summary makes two significant omissions. The first is that he was homosexual. Beard's memoir states: "By the time I was seven, I knew that I was gay. I think it's time to talk about that now."[19] The second was Beard's own admission of possessing "until I was about forty-five, I guess a really violent temper."[20] Mark Bittman (who did not know Beard personally) describes him in a similar way: "In a time when serious cooking meant French Cooking, Beard was quintessentially American, a Westerner whose mother ran a boardinghouse, a man who grew up with hotcakes and salmon and meatloaf in his blood. A man who was born a hundred years ago on the other side of the country, in a city, Portland, that at the time was every bit as cosmopolitan as, say, Allegheny PA."[21]

Beard died January 21, 1985 in New York City, New York, United States, of heart failure at the age of 81. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered over the beach in Gearhart, Oregon, United States, where he spent his summers as a child.

Foundation

The James Beard Foundation was set up in Beard's honor to provide scholarships to aspiring food professionals and to champion the American culinary tradition — which Beard helped create.[22] The Beard Foundation had boasted of its giving of scholarships but in 2003 it only gave $29,000 of its $4 million dollar fund to scholarships.[22]

For a time, the foundation was plagued by scandal; in 2004 its head, Leonard Pickell, resigned and was imprisoned for grand larceny and in 2005 the board of trustees resigned. Since that time it has instituted a new ethics policy and selected a new president, both actions explicitly targeted at preventing further abuse.

The foundation continues to experience some financial difficulty; it has operated at a deficit for several consecutive years, though the size of that deficit has decreased since Pickell's departure.[23]

Beard's legacy: the James Beard House & the James Beard Awards

Taken at the James Beard House, January 2007

After Beard's death in 1985, Julia Child had the idea to preserve his home in New York City as the gathering place it was throughout his life. Peter Kump, a former student of Beard's and the founder of the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kump's New York Cooking School), spearheaded the effort to purchase the house and create the James Beard Foundation.

Beard's renovated brownstone is located at 167 West 12th Street, in the heart of Greenwich Village. It is North America's only historical culinary center, a place where Foundation members, the press, and the general public are encouraged to savor the creations of both established and emerging chefs from across the country and around the globe.

The annual James Beard Foundation Awards are given at the industry's biggest party, part of a fortnight of activities that celebrate fine cuisine and Beard's birthday. Held on the first Monday in May, the Awards ceremony honors the finest chefs, restaurants, journalists, cookbook authors, restaurant designers, and electronic media professionals in the country. It culminates in a reception featuring a tasting of the signature dishes of more than 30 of the James Beard Foundation's very best chefs.

A quarterly magazine, Beard House, is a comprehensive compendium of the best in culinary journalism. The foundation also publishes the James Beard Foundation Restaurant Directory, a directory of all chefs who have either presented a meal at the Beard House or have participated in one of the foundation's out-of-House fundraising events.

Quotations

  • "There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing."[24]
  • "I'm going to break one of the rules of the trade here. I'm going to tell you some of the secrets of improvisation. Just remember — it's always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you're on your own."[25]

Works

  • James Beard (1903 – 1985): The Complete Works
  • Hors d'Oeuvre and Canapés 1940, M. Barrows & Co. Revised in 1963 and 1985.
  • Cook It Outdoors 1941 (M. Barrows & Co.)
  • Fowl and Game Cookery 1944 (M. Barrows & Co.)
  • The Fireside Cook Book: A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert 1949 (Simon and Schuster) Re titled in 1982 as The Fireside Cookbook.
  • Paris Cuisine 1952 (Little, Brown) Beard co-wrote Paris Cuisine with British journalist Alexander Watt.
  • The Complete Book of Barbecue & Rotisserie Cooking 1954 (Maco Magazine Corp.)

[Re titled in 1958 as New Barbecue Cookbook, in 1966 as Jim Beard's Barbecue Cookbook, and in 1967 as James Beard's Barbecue Cookbook.]

  • Complete Cookbook for Entertaining 1954 (Maco Magazine Corp.)
  • How to Eat Better for Less Money 1954 (Simon and Schuster)
  • James Beard's Fish Cookery 1954 (Little, Brown)

[Re titled in 1976 and 1987 (paperback) as James Beard's New Fish Cookery.]

  • Casserole Cookbook 1955 (Maco Magazine Corp.)
  • The Complete Book of Outdoor Cookery 1955 (Doubleday)
  • The James Beard Cookbook 1959 (Dell Publishing Co.) Revised in 1961, 1970, 1987 (paperback), and 1996.
  • Treasury of Outdoor Cooking 1960 (Golden Press)
  • Delights & Prejudices: A Memoir with Recipes 1964 (Atheneum) Revised in 1981 and 1990.
  • James Beard's Menus for Entertaining 1965 (Delacorte Press)
  • How to Eat (and Drink) Your Way through a French (or Italian) Menu 1971 (Atheneum)
  • James Beard's American Cookery 1972 (Little, Brown)
  • Beard on Bread 1973 (Knopf) Revised in 1995 (paperback)
  • James Beard Cooks with Corning 1973
  • Beard on Food 1974 (Knopf)
  • New Recipes for the Cuisinart Food Processor 1976
  • James Beard's Theory & Practice of Good Cooking 1977 (Knopf) Revised in 1978, 1986, and 1990.
  • The New James Beard 1981 (Knopf) Revised in 1989.
  • Beard on Pasta 1983 (Knopf)
  • The Grand Grand Marnier Cookbook
  • Benson & Hedges 100's Presents: 100 of the World's Greatest Recipes by James Beard 1976
  • The James Beard Cookbook on CuisineVu 1987
  • James Beard's Simple Foods 1993 (Macmillan)
  • Love and Kisses and a Halo of Truffles 1994 (Arcade) Edited by John Ferrone
  • The James Beard Cookbooks 1997 (Thames and Hudson) Edited by John Ferrone
  • The Armchair James Beard 1999 (The Lyons Press) Edited by John Ferrone[26]

Archival Collection

The James Beard Papers are housed in the Fales Library at New York University. The Fales Library Guide to the James Beard Papers

Notes

  1. ^ James Beard, "A James Beard Memoir," The James Beard Celebration Cookbook, Ed. Barbara Kafka (New York: Wings Books, 1990) 25.
  2. ^ David Kamp, The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold-pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution, 1st paperback (New York: Broadway Books, 2006) 19.
  3. ^ Kamp 19.
  4. ^ James Beard, "A James Beard Memoir," 20.
  5. ^ Kamp 20.
  6. ^ Kamp 42.
  7. ^ a b "Who Was James Beard?" The James Beard Foundation (25 Nov 2007) <http://www.jamesbeard.org/about/beard.shtml>.
  8. ^ Loughery, p. 173
  9. ^ James Beard, Assisted Jose Wilson, Illustrated Karl Stuecklen, Introduction Julia Child, and Forward Mike Bittman, James Beard Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking, 3rd. (New York: Bloomsbury, 2007)Childs Vi.
  10. ^ a b Childs Vi.
  11. ^ James Beard Foundation
  12. ^ Kamp 55.
  13. ^ Kamp 57
  14. ^ Kamp 58.
  15. ^ Kamp 60.
  16. ^ Kamp 62
  17. ^ a b Kamp 62.
  18. ^ Child Vi.
  19. ^ James Beard, The James Beard Celebration Cookbook, Ed. Barbara Kafka (William Morrow & Co, 1990) at 24. ISBN 0688076378
  20. ^ Beard, "A James Beard Memoir," 20-21.
  21. ^ James Beard, Assisted Jose Wilson, Illustrated Karl Stuecklen, Introduction Julia Child, and Forward Mike Bittman, James Beard Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking, 3rd. (New York: Bloomsbury, 2007)Bittman viii.
  22. ^ a b Kamp 294.
  23. ^ Questions Linger for Beard Foundation – New York Times
  24. ^ Beard, James, Illustrated Alice Provensen, and Illustrated Martin Provensen, The Fireside Cook Book: A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert, 1st. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949)13.
  25. ^ James Beard, and Illustrated Pat Stewart, The Best Of Beard: Great Recipes From a Great Cook (New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. 1974) 6.
  26. ^ "Who Was James Beard?" The James Beard Foundation (25 Nov 2007)

References

  • Beard, James. "A James Beard Memoir." The James Beard Celebration Cookbook. Ed. Barbara Kafka. New York: Wings Books, 1990.
  • Beard, James, Assisted Jose Wilson, Illustrated Karl Stuecklen, Introduction Julia Child, and Forward Mike Bittman. James Beard Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking. 3rd. New York: Bloomsbury, 2007.
  • Beard, James, Illustrated Alice Provensen, and Illustrated Martin Provensen. The Fireside Cook Book: A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert. 1st. New York: Simon And Schuster, 1949.
  • Beard, James, and Illustrated Pat Stewart. The Best of Beard: Great Recipes From a Great Cook. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc., 1974.
  • Clark, Robert. James Beard: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. (Later reissued as The Solace of Food: A Life of James Beard. Hanover, NH, 1998).
  • Kamp, David. The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold-pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution. 1st paperback. New York: Broadway Books, 2006.
  • Loughery, John (1998). The Other Side of Silence – Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth-Century History. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805038965.

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