The JamesBeardFoundation, which sponsors the awards, was created in 1986 by Julia Child and the late Peter Kump to preserve the culinary philosophy, ideals and practices of cookbook author and well-known chef JamesBeard, who died in 1985.
The awards handed out by the JamesBeardFoundation are the tops in the US culinary world, often called the Academy Awards of food, though I recently saw a foodie tweet that the Oscars should be known as the JamesBeardAwards of movies.
The JamesBeardFoundation celebrated its 25th anniversary Monday night, doling out awards to some of the best restaurants, chefs and other stars in the food world.