The Oscars of the food world — James Beard Awards – have been announced for 2007. Most of the big awards went to New York, Chicago, and D.C.

I’m glad to see a few women chefs who won for their regions — Traci Des Jardins who won for best chef in California and Celina Tio for best chef in the Midwest.

I’m thrilled to see some smaller weekly newspapers that won for best food writing such as the Cleveland Scene in Cleveland and City Pages in Minneapolis. Leite’s Culinaria received an award for best web writing.

Winning books include topics like chocolate, outdoor cooking, sustainability, grains, and much more. Bill & Cheryl Jamison won for outdoor cooking. Many years ago while on a week long stay at the Santa Fe School of Cooking I had the pleasure of eating BBQ on their patio. They were ahead of their time.

In 2004, the James Beard Foundation was rife with financial problems. As a non-profit organization, they had lost their way and much of the $4.7 million that they earned was unaccounted for with only $29,000 given to scholarships.

Does anyone know if the James Beard Foundation has bounced back?

After reading the list of winners, do you have any comments about the winners? Read any of the books? Gone to any of the restaurants? Please share your culinary wealth of knowledge with the rest of us.