Two Canadian productions recognized at the James Beard Awards

Two Canadian productions recognized at the James Beard Awards

Freelance writer Megan Williams (Image: International Journalism Festival)

Two Canadians earned top prizes last Friday at the James Beard Awards for Books, Broadcast and Journalism, which were handed out at the Lincoln Center in New York. The James Beard Foundation, named in honour of the pioneer foodie and host of the first televised cooking show back in 1946, hands out the awards each year to recognize the stars of the industry.

The CBC Radio program Ideas took home the Audio Webcast or Radio Show award for the episode “Pasta: The long and short of it,” which is essentially an ode to all things, well, pasta. “What can I say? It was the start of a lifelong love affair,” producer Megan Williams says of the first time she watched her now husband prepare homemade spaghetti (she was talking about the noodles, not the man). The program can be listened to in its entirety on the Ideas website.

Milk War, an investigative film narrated by Colm Feore, won the award for Television Special/Documentary. The film is centred on controversies over the Canadian government’s regulation of locally produced foods. The iChannel production tells the story of Durham, Ontario farmer Michael Schmidt, whose milk products were seized by more than 20 police officials in a 2006 raid that led to his arrest on charges of selling unpasteurized milk.

Finally, a quasi partly-Canadian win: Edible Communities, a magazine brand with publications across North America, including Edible Toronto, was named Publication of the Year.