Julia Child Award | Virtual Salon
This year, we went virtual in celebration of our 2021 Julia Child Award recipient, Toni Tipton-Martin!
We kicked off our events this year on November 4th with a celebration of Toni Tipton-Martin's acceptance of the seventh annual Julia Child Award presented by The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.
Then, on November 12th, Tipton-Martin hosted a virtual salon, convening trailblazing women on the importance of recovering and sharing food histories that have been ignored and overlooked for too long.
Both events were recorded and released on the National Museum of American History’s YouTube Channel. Thank you for both your support and participation!
Toni Tipton-Martin and the 2021 Julia Child Award
Participants:
Toni Tipton-Martin
Culinary journalist, author, editor-in-chief, and community health advocate Toni Tipton-Martin was the 2021 recipient of the Julia Child Award, created by The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts to recognize an individual who has made a significant impact on the way America cooks, eats, and drinks. The award will be presented at the National Museum of American History as part of its American Food History Project.
A native of Los Angeles, Tipton-Martin graduated from the University of Southern California School of Journalism. She was a nutrition reporter for the Los Angeles Times and in 1991 became the first African American woman hired as the food editor for a major daily newspaper, Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. A prolific researcher and writer, Tipton-Martin worked independently for many years, publishing articles and books, and speaking widely on African American food culture. In 2020 she was named editor in-chief of the magazine and television show Cook’s Country. Throughout her career, Tipton-Martin has collected and researched African American cookbooks, amassing a collection that served as the foundation for her award-winning 2015 book, The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. Her 2020 book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, builds on and reveals the largely unrecognized diversity of Black culinary contributions.
Tipton-Martin’s work extends to teaching, mentoring, and participating in community, regional, and national programs on food and nutrition. She is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and Foodways Texas and was invited twice to the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama in recognition of her work with families and communities.
Tiffanie Barriere (Award Presenter)
Tiffanie Barriere is the bartender’s bartender, an influencer and educator who has been awarded with some of the beverage industry’s highest honors. The Bar Smart graduate is a Tastemakers of the South award-winner who spent seven years as the beverage director of One Flew South the “Best Airport Bar in the World.” As an independent bartender she is known for creative and innovative cocktail menus for pop-dinners and bar consultancy clients; hosting mixology classes around the nation, and connecting culinary and farm culture with spirits. As a leader, she is a member of the Tales of the Cocktail Grants Committee, the James Beard Beverage Advisory Board, and a member of the Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier.
“The Drinking Coach” Barriere has graced the demonstration stages of prestigious food and hospitality events such as the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, Charleston Food & Wine Festival, BevCon, Tales of the Cocktail, Savannah Food & Wine Festival, Music to Your Mouth and more. As an author-contributor, Tiffanie’s cocktail recipes can be found in the Southern Foodway Alliance Guide to Cocktails by Jerry Slayter, Jubilee by Toni Tipton Martin, and Road Soda by Kara Newman.
Her reputation as a public historian has opened doors for her to speak on panels at such venues as Fire, Flour & Fork, Southern Foodways Symposium, and the Soul Summit, and she has interpreted the cocktails of African American and women firsts in spirits at the James Beard House in New York City.
The culinarians and chefs she has worked with reads like a Who’s Who in the Culinary Arts: Duane Nutter, Todd Richards, the late Darryl Evans, Kevin Mitchell, Deborah VanTrece, Jennifer Hill Booker, Suzanne Vizethann, Erika Council, Todd Ginsberg and Asha Gomez.
Barriere and her cocktails have been featured in such publications as Imbibe magazine (print and online), Difford’s Guide, Creative Loafing, Forbes, Essence, Southern Living, The Bitter Southerner, Cherry Bomb, Washington Post, Thrillist, Eater, Vine Pair, Food Republic, and Garden & Gun. In 2020 Tiffanie was featured on Food Networks The Kitchen showcasing her creativity on how to batch for a gathering. She also received the Tales of the Cocktails Dame of the Year award 2020 and the cover photo of Imbibe Magazines for the Top 75 for Imbibe.
The Louisiana-Texas native is the trustworthy mentor of some of the best bartenders and mixologists in the world. Tiffanie’s main goal is education, service and fun with every pour.
Ruth Reichl
Ruth began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. She moved to Berkeley, California in 1973, and became co-owner and cook at The Swallow Restaurant. In 1978 she became restaurant critic for New West and California magazines, and went on to be the restaurant critic and food editor of the Los Angeles Times. From 1993-1999 she served as restaurant critic for The New York Times. In 1999 she moved to Gourmet Magazine, where she was Editor in Chief for ten years.
She has authored five memoirs, Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, Garlic and Sapphires, For You, Mom, Finally and Save Me the Plums, which was published in 2019. Her novel, Delicious! was published in 2014, and her cookbook, My Kitchen Year, 136 Recipes that Saved My Life in 2015. She edited Best American Food Writing 2018, and The Modern Library Food Series, which currently includes ten books. She was Executive Producer and host of the public television series, Adventures with Ruth and a judge on Top Chef Masters. She is the recipient of six James Beard Awards. At the moment she is working on a novel. Her most recent project is a documentary, with Laura Gabbert, director of City of Gold, about the many ways the pandemic has altered the food landscape.
Nathalie Dupree
Nathalie Dupree is the author of fifteen cookbooks, selling over half a million copies, and host of more than three hundred national and international cooking shows, which have aired since 1986 on the PBS, the Food Network, and the Learning Channel. She has written for many magazines and newspapers, including a column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution on food and relationships which Peter Boyer called “unique in American Journalism today,” in an article in Vanity Fair magazine. Those columns also ran in the L.A. Times Syndicate. She has appeared many times on the Today Show and Good Morning America. Nathalie, as she is known to her fans, has won wide recognition for her work, including four James Beard Awards, nomination to the James Beard Foundation’s Who's who in American Cooking and numerous others. She is best known for her approachability and her understanding of Southern cooking, having started the New Southern Cooking movement now found in many restaurants throughout the United States. She has been chef of three restaurants – in Majorca, Spain; Social Circle, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia.
For 10 years she directed the Rich’s Cooking School in Atlanta, where she stopped counting at 10,000 students. She has mentored countless interns and other students and assistants. Many of them now own restaurants, catering or other food businesses, edit magazines, have their own television shows and have written their own cookbooks. She has been the president of the Atlanta chapter of the International Women's Forum, founder and past president of IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals), founder and board member of Southern Foodways, and founder and co-president of two chapters of Les Dames d’Escoffier by whom she was awarded the honor of “Grande Dame”. She considers it her highest honor as it is from women who have excelled in the food industry. She was the founding president of the Charleston Wine and Food Festival. She was also named the 2013 Woman of the Year from the French Master Chefs of America, and received Slow Food Charleston’s 2016 Snail Award. Two of her books New Southern Cooking and Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking are on the 2017 Southern Living 100 best cookbooks of all time list. Her most recent columns were for the Charleston Post and Courier, and her latest book is “Nathalie Dupree’s Favorite Recipes and Stories.” She and her husband, Jack Bass, live in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Ronni Lundy
Ronni Lundy is the author of ten books. Her most recent is Victuals, An Appalachian Journey with Recipes, winner of the James Beard awards for Best American Cookbook, and Cookbook of the Year, 2016. She is a founder of the Appalachian Food Summit, and the Southern Foodways Alliance, and won the latter organization's Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. She is currently working as programming consultant with the Toni Tipton-Martin Foundation.
Jamila Robinson
Jamila Robinson is the Food Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer where she leads a team of reporters and directs its multiplatform food content franchise.
Previously, Jamila was an editorial director for Atlantic Media, where she led content strategy projects for media companies, a senior content strategist for the USA TODAY NETWORK, where she managed editorial strategy for special projects, including USA TODAY’s Wine and Food Experience; a senior editor for features at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, leading its features and entertainment team.
Jamila is the chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee, which organizes the highest honors in food media. She also serves as the coach and mentor for the JBF fellowship program. Jamila is an idea person, an avid traveler, and in her free time, coaches figure skating.
Eric Spivey
Eric W. Spivey has extensive experience in building strong and successful global enterprises. Mr. Spivey is currently co-founder and chairman of WayalongPTY Ltd.,a next generation provider of data technology solutions. He is also chairman of The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.
From 2005-2010, Mr. Spivey served as chairman of Webroot Software, Inc., a leading provider of internet security for consumers and businesses worldwide. Prior to Webroot, he served as chairman of Brightmail, Inc., the world’s largest provider of anti-spam technology. Prior to Brightmail, Mr. Spivey was Chairman and CEO of NetGravity, Inc., a leading provider of mission-critical online advertising and direct marketing solutions. Mr. Spivey also served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Netcom On-Line Communications Services, Inc., a global internet service provider. For more than a decade, Mr. Spivey held various senior executive positions across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America with the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
Mr. Spivey earned a B.A. in Economics and Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. Heand his wife Cynthia divide their time between Santa Barbara and San Francisco. In San Francisco, Mr. Spiveyserves on the board of The Pacific Vision Foundation and is a member of both the San Francisco Gold Chapter of YPO and The Pacific-Union Club. They have three adult children working across the globe.
Journalist, cookbook author, editor, television host, mentor, and community advocate Toni Tipton-Martin, the 2021 Julia Child Award recipient, hosted a virtual salon on November 12, 2021. Tipton-Martin convened a panel of trailblazing women in a conversation about the role of research and archives in recovering and enriching historical narratives around food history. The discussion explored the essential acts of primary research, writing, mentorship, and public outreach.
Tipton-Martin kicked off the event with award-winning journalist and biographer A’Lelia Bundles. Together, they shared new perspectives on Bundles’s great-great-grandmother, Madam C.J. Walker, the noted Black entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist; as well as A’Lelia’s great grandmother and namesake, A’Lelia Walker, who was known for hosting elaborate and fanciful salons in Harlem. Through their careful research in the Madam Walker Family Archives, a new understanding of Walker's intellectual salons, hosted in her home, has emerged.
Honoring the tradition of Walker’s salons, the event continued with Tipton-Martin welcoming New York Times best-selling author, host, and executive producer, Padma Lakshmi, and journalist, food historian, and cookbook author, Sandra Gutierrez. At the heart of this event lies a message about the role women play as researchers, writers, and keepers of their communities’ histories; the critical role of women’s networks in facing challenges and barriers as well as in mentoring future generations; and the inspiring ways in which women can support each other in personal and professional realms.
This program was recorded and released on the National Museum of American History’s YouTube channel. Watch on YouTube
Participants:
A’Lelia Bundles
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, the 2001 New York Times Notable Book about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother and the inspiration for Self Made, the fictional Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer. Ms. Bundles is at work on her fifth book, The Joy Goddess of Harlem: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, about her great-grandmother whose parties, arts patronage and international travels helped define the era.
A former network television news executive and producer at ABC News and NBC News, Ms. Bundles is a vice chairman emerita of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and chair emerita of the board of the National Archives Foundation.
She is on the advisory boards of the March on Washington Film Festival, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative.
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated food expert, television producer, host and The New York Times best-selling author.
She is the creator of the critically acclaimed Hulu series Taste the Nation, winner of the 2021 Critics Choice Award. Taste the Nation will return for a holiday seasonette in November 2021, and its second season will begin filming in early 2022. Lakshmi also serves as host and executive producer of Bravo’s two-time Emmy-winning series Top Chef.
Lakshmi is co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA) and an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Artist Ambassador for immigrants' rights and women's rights. Lakshmi was also appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
She established herself as a food expert early in her career, hosting two successful cooking shows: Padma’s Passport, and Planet Food and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the “Best First Book” award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Lakshmi followed this with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet and her memoir The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate. She later published The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs. In August of 2021 she published her first children’s book, The New York Times best-selling Tomatoes for Neela.
Additionally, Lakshmi is a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She has received the 2018 Karma Award from Variety, as well as the 2016 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Sandra Gutierrez
In a career that spans more than two decades, Sandra A. Gutierrez, journalist, food writer, cookbook author, food historian, and professional cooking instructor, has taught thousands how to cook.
Born in the USA, this bilingual, award-winning author of four cookbooks is considered one of the top national experts on Latin American Foodways and on the United States Southern Regional cuisine.
She is the former food editor for The Cary News. Her articles and recipes have been featured in many national and international publications, including Eating Well, Food & Wine, Southern Living, The Washington Post, USA Today, NBC Latino, FOX Latino, People Español, Cosmopolitan, In-Style magazine, Men's Fitness, Cooking Light, The Oxford American, Better Homes and Gardens and in newspapers across the country. As a recipe tester and developer, Sandra has over 3,000 original recipes and over 1500 articles published worldwide.
Her books have won her special recognition from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal. Sandra is the author of four books: The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together the Bold and Beloved Flavors of Latin America & The American South (2011), Latin American Street Food: The Best Flavors of Markets, Beaches, and Roadside Stands from Mexico to Argentina (2013), Empanadas: the Hand-Held Pies of Latin America (2015); winner of a Gourmand Award for best single-subject cookbook in the United States, and Beans and Field Peas: A Savor the South Cookbook (2015).
Sandra is a frequent speaker at conferences, universities, and literary festivals. Sandra has appeared in numerous television shows, including the nationally syndicated Daytime TV show on NBC. Sandra is a founding member of the North Carolina Chapter of Les Dames D'Escoffier.
A frequent judge for major food writing awards, in 2017, Sandra was awarded the M.F.K Fisher Grand Prize Award for Excellence in Food Writing. Sandra’s work and life story were featured in the Exhibit Gateways/Portales at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum from 2016-2019. In 2019 her work and culinary objects became part of the permanent FOOD exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. On September 15, 2021, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sandra was honored by the Smithsonian Institute as a “Woman to Know” and one of seven “Latinas who shaped American culture.”
What is the Food History Project?
The Smithsonian Food History project at the National Museum of American History welcomes everyone to join in exploring history through the lens of food. The museum’s food history team conducts research, collects objects and documents, creates exhibitions, and develops dynamic public programs that illuminate the fundamental role of food in shaping many aspects of American history and cultural life.
Our food programs are based on the museum’s research and collecting initiatives and include on-line offerings as well as on-site programs and demonstrations. These events bring visitors together for relevant discussions that start with history and expand to the present and future of food in the United States. Special activities include free daytime programs, including live cooking demonstrations, and the annual Smithsonian Food History Weekend. The National Museum of American History is committed to examining the historical roots of contemporary issues concerning food and drink in the United States. To stay in the loop, sign up to receive updates from the food history team here.
