I got tagged in Facebook post today. Shuna Lydon, the pastry chef at Peels, was calling out a roster of pastry chefs to come forward and make a statement about an issue that's been talked about, e-mailed, posted and tweeted quite a bit over the last week or two. Jenny McCoy, most recently the pastry chef at Craft, wrote an open letter to the James Beard Foundation about honoring more than one pastry chef a year at their annual awards. Shuna posted her say on her blog.

I hope you like reading about pastry chefs. This post is going to get crazy deep with them.

The Beard Awards are the Oscars of the American food world. And the Foundation has been called out on many, many things in recent years. I won't go into the details but it's not pretty and they are trying very hard to rectify. I say this as someone who has always worked in the same circles as the Beard Foundation and have gone to the awards most of my 25 years in the business. Honestly, I really don't remember anything before 1997 but that's for another post.
I'm also working with them on their work they've been doing on sustainability. I'm on the committee for their sustainable conference. This says a lot. I've never come near an award and have been told years ago, not by the recent ruling party, that I won't because I don't play the game and that I've got a mouth on me....and now they've asked me to participate for that very reason. This does say a lot about the state of the Foundation now. Kudos.

SO, with this in mind, here's what I have to say about pastry chefs, The Beard Awards and what's been going down.

It is high time they recognize more pastry chefs across the country. There is a roster of chefs that do always get nominated.
I've complained about this for years. And for the most part, in all the categories, the most visible of chefs get nominated. No one
is going into the depths of Idaho to find that one pastry chef who is doing something amazing and giving them the award.
With such a small community like the one of pastry chefs in America, expanding the award even by another three winners, would
open up a world of talent previously unrecognized.

It's overdue. It's a bit old actually.
Now we have pastry chefs that are opening restaurants as the executive chef. Hell, they're all over the place. You're looking at one right here (shameless plug) and the recognition that this award brings can help a relatively overlooked position, give it an air that it really should have.
A Beard Award changes careers, it changes business plans. It can change everything.

Pastry chefs are not savory chefs. You can't compare. It's a completely different discipline. It's a discipline that should be honored. On many different levels.

I've never met Shuna or Jenny or most of the pastry chefs that have been openly supporting this statement. There are just too many pastry chefs for me to know all of them anymore. But I like anyone who speaks out and can articulately start a ruckus.

I'd vote for them.

Occupy Pastry and have a great night.