Neuron Culture

Now this makes my day: I've been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award. Beard, foodees know, was a great eminence in fooddom, and won my heart years ago by stressing in one of his cookbooks that (to paraphrase) the quantity of food in a meal can be as important to its enjoyment as the food's quality -- especially if the food is good. His food awards are greatly coveted among chefs, food writers, and others who care about food.

So I'm thrilled that, as Eating Well editor Lisa Gosselin kindly informed me today,, my Eating Well story "The Wild Salmon Debate: A Fresh Look at Whether Eating Farmed Salmon is ... Well ... OK.," is nominated for a Beard Journalism Award in the category Magazine Feature Writing With Recipes. (The recipes were by John Ash.)

This utterly tickles me, and I'm not ashamed to say I hope we win, because -- well, winning is fun. On the other hand, that I've sort of won, already as nominees get to go to the awards event, which is a black-tie affair at Lincoln Center, and attend the gala reception afterwards, which is a "walk-around tasting event" that promises to make winners feel even better and reverse any dive a runner-up might feel. One of the co-hosts is Stanley Tucci, whom I adore. If I win, I'm going to beg him to cook me an omelette. Should be a big night!

My competition, I note, is frighteningly formidable: "What is Southern?", by author, chef , and southern-cooking icon Edna Lewis, who published this piece posthumously in Gourmet; and "Mother Sauce: The Ancient Art of the Saucier is Alive and Well in the Kitchens of Paris and Beyond," from Saveur, by James Peterson, who is likewise deeply immersed in his subject,, and who already holds several Beard awards. I'm humbled and honored to be a fellow nominee with these two.

I wish I could say the salmon are doing better. Alas, that's not the case. All the more reason to think deeply about the implications of eating that farmed salmon, dishy as it is.