The Jury
Jim Dodge
Jim has published several cookbooks, including the award-winning American Baker and Baking with Jim Dodge. He is a contributing editor to the revised Joy of Cooking, as well as a former contributing editor to Food & Wine, and consulting culinary editor to Cooks Illustrated. Jim has received numerous honors, including a James Beard Award for Excellence in 2005, a Gold Plate Award presented by the American Academy of Achievement in 1989, a James Beard Cookbook Award in 1987, and the Honor Roll of American Chefs for Food & Wine in 1983.
Mas Masumoto
Mas Masumoto is an organic peach, nectarine, apricot, and grape farmer and the author of thirteen books including: Epitaph for a Peach, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, and Changing Season. He and the family also published a farm cookbook, The Perfect Peach. A feature documentary, Changing Season on the Masumoto Family Farm, was nationally broadcast by PBS in May, 2016.
A third generation farmer, Masumoto grows organic peaches, nectarines, apricots, and raisins on an 80 acre family farm south of Fresno, Calif. Masumoto is currently a columnist for The Fresno Bee. His writing awards include Commonwealth Club Silver medal, Julia Child Cookbook award and the Independent Publisher Book Award. Wisdom of the Last Farmer was honored as “Best Environmental Writing in 2009” by National Resources Defense Council. The Perfect Peach was named by USA Today as one of best summer cookbooks in 2013. He currently serves on the boards of the Public Policy Institute of California and CalMatters. In 2013, President Obama appointed Masumoto the National Council on the Arts, the board for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lolis Eric Elie
Lolis Eric Elie is a New Orleans born, Los Angeles based food writer and filmmaker. He is the author of “Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country,” and the co-author of “Rodney Scott’s World of Barbecue: Every Day’s a Good Day,” among other books. His essay, “America’s Greatest Hits,” is included in Best African American Essays: 2009. His television credits include work on “Bosch,” “The Man in the High Castle,” “Greenleaf” and the HBO series “Treme.” Working with the award-winning director Dawn Logsdon, he co- produced and wrote the PBS documentary, Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans.
Andrew Smith
Andrew F. Smith has taught food studies courses at the New School since 1996. He is the author or editor of thirty-two books. His most recent works include the three-volume Food in America (ABC-CLIO, 2017), Savoring Gotham (Oxford University Press, 2015), and Fast Food: The Good, the Bad and the Hungry(Reaktion 2016). He serves as the series editor for both the “Edible Series” and the “Food Controversies Series” at Reaktion Books in the United Kingdom.
Tina Ujlaki
Tina Ujlaki was the Executive Food Editor at Food & Wine, where she oversaw the test kitchen and recipes, scouted products and traveled widely to identify emerging talent for editorial features and for the magazine’s annual roundup of Best New Chefs. She has worked with cooks and chefs including Julia Child, Paula Wolfert, Jacques Pépin, Marcella Hazan, Jean Georges Vongerichten, Rick Bayless and many, many more. She began her career in food as a stagiaire at La Varenne in Paris, where she worked on cookbooks with Anne Willan. She has translated and adapted French chefs’ cookbooks for the American market including Dining in France, The Natural Cuisine of Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard for Home Cooks. Other book projects include several volumes in Time Life’s Good Cook series, Cucina di Lidia by Lidia Bastianich and Beefsteak by Jose Andres (upcoming).
Tina has served as a judge for both the IACP and James Beard Foundation’s cookbook awards and is a longtime product judge for the SOFI awards (Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation) for the Specialty Food Association. She has worked with consumer brands including Amy’s Kitchen, Breville, OXO, Earthbound Farms. She is currently a freelance consultant, editor, recipe tester and developer.