From Menu Pages (blog.menupages.com): The long [preliminary] list for the James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars of the food world, has been released. Though the official list of five nominees per category won't be announced until March 23, 20 semifinalists have been announced in each of the 19 categories. The theme of this year's gala, which will take place on after the awards on May 4 at Lincoln Center in NYC, is Women in Food, and Lidia Bastinach will serve as Gala Chair, overseeing the post-awards feast, which will highlight some of the nation's best female chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and food producers.
Here's the list.