Beard, James, 1903–85, American cooking teacher and cookbook author, b. Portland, Oreg. His interest in food was encouraged by his mother, who had been a hotel proprietor. He was a syndicated columnist, a frequent guest on television and radio, and an adviser to restaurateurs and food manufacturers; he helped introduce frozen food to the American public. He briefly hosted his own television programs, I Love to Eat and I Love to Cook (1946–47). In 1955, Beard established a cooking school in his Greenwich Village home, now The James Beard House, a culinary center and showcase for chefs. His belief in the virtues of American cuisine helped create a gastronomic revolution in the United States. Beard wrote some two dozen cookbooks, including The Fireside Cookbook (1949), American Cooking (1972) and The Cook's Catalogue (1975).
See biography by J. Birdsall (2020).
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