FALL 2010 - Les Dames d'Escoffier International

LDEI’s 2010M.F.K. Fisher AwardsNew to this year’s competition isthat food writers could enter worksfrom Internet websites and blogs.The well-balanced entries included24 stories from newspapers,22 articles from magazines, 15excerpts from books and 14 fromInternet websites. However, two ofthe three award winners were fromInternet writing.Judges did not know the sourceof the entries because all werestripped of their authors’ names,photos and source and formattedidentically in Word 12-point TimesRoman. Per contest rules, none ofthe judges was a member of LDEI.“All three of thewinning storiesare right in sync withthe spirit of M.F.K.”-- from a judge.Natalie MacLean,First Prize WinnerCanadian WomanWins LDEI’sM.F.K. Fisher AwardRepresenting seven states, the eightjudges are food editors at BetterHomes and Gardens Magazine(Iowa), Houston Chronicle,New Orleans Times Picayune,Desert News (Salt Lake City),San Francisco Chronicle, andIndianapolis Star. A writing coachfrom Charlottesville, VA, and anewspaper columnist also judged.Unlike the past two contestswhere half the entries camefrom Dames, very few entries thisyear were written by members-- only 12 of the 75 that metrule requirements. Members ofthe 2010 M.F.K. Fisher AwardsCommittee who reviewed andupdated the rules are LouisaKasdon and Luanne Bonanno(both Northeast Chapter), BrendaMcDowell (Chicago), DeborahMintcheff (New York), BarbaraRidenhour (St. Louis), VirginiaWillis (Atlanta) and CiCiWilliamson (Washington, D.C.).By CiCi Williamson, 2010M.F.K. Award Chair“This is the best contest I’ve ever judged.Very difficult.” wrote a veteran food editorabout the 2010 LDEI’s M.F.K. Fisher Awardsfor Excellence in Culinary Writing. In theend -- after all judges’ scores were tabulated-- articles about a Canadian winery, heirloomtomatoes and squash blossoms surfaced as theprize winners.The 2010 contest had 78 entries -- thehighest number of LDEI’s three contests todate, and the competition was intense. Firstprize goes to Natalie MacLean (Toronto),an award-winning wine writer from Nepean,Ontario. Her Internet entry, “Flying High,”is a story about Featherstone Winery in Niagara,Canada. The story details the winery’sbattle to protect the vineyards from airbornepredators and weeds.In addition to $1,000, Natalie wins a tripto the LDEI Annual Conference in PalmSprings to accept the award at the October23 gala banquet honoring M.F.K. Fisher.In 2008, Natalie won third prize in LDEI’scontest for a story about women champagnemakers in France.Second prize of $500 goes to WashingtonPost staff writer Jane Black for “Snob Appeal.Won’t Someone Knock Heirloom TomatoesOff Their Pedestal?” Jane writes, “The besttomato I ate last summer was not an heirloomtomato. If those don’t seem like fightingwords, then clearly you do not take tomatoesseriously.” Although she reports having eatenterrific heirloom varieties, she pens, “Callme persnickety, but someone needs to takea stand here: ‘Heirloom’ is not synonymouswith ‘good.’ The key to a great tomato ishow it is grown.”T. Susan Chang of Leverett, Mass., afood writer and regular cookbook reviewerfor the Boston Globe, wins third prize and$250 for “Gather Ye Squash Blossoms WhileYe May,” a feature on National Public Radio’swebsite www.npr.org. The article details thehandling and cooking of squash blossomsthat “on the vine, … unfurl like a Kleenexcrumpling in reverse.” Susan reports thatpicking the blossoms is “a highly effectiveform of zucchini birth control.”8 L e s L eD s a Dm ae ms ed s ’ Ed s’ cE osf cf oi ef fr i eI nr tIe nr tn ear tn i ao tn iao ln a l