Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December (Written by José Andrés)

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Some days, the Gods smile on you.  Tuesday, December 1, 2009, was one of those days for me. When I came home from Thanksgiving weekend there was a FedEx envelope on my front porch. In it was the December issue of Food Arts, which contained my Silver Spoon Award. The profile was written by my friend, the great chef-restaurateur-television personality-and expert on Spanish cuisine, José Andrés, whose new restaurant Bazaar has taken Los Angeles by storm.

I am very grateful to José for his kinds words in this supremely gratifying piece and to Michael and Ariane Batterberry, founders and publishers of Food Arts, and to my editor Jim Poris, who selected me for this prestigious award and got José to write it.

And many, many thanks--miles de gracias--to Ferran Adrià, the great Catalan chef whom many consider to be the greatest--and certainly the most innovative--chef in the world, who contributed this: 

 

"Spain wouldn't be as known to Americans without the stories Gerry tells and writes."


But, few lines could be better than the ones José Andrés wrote, especially these:


"As a young chef arriving in America from Spain in the early 1990s, I came to see Gerry as an ally. At the time, I found myself struggling to explain Spanish cooking because people either had no idea or they had the wrong idea.  It was a battle.  But Gerry's writing meant I was not alone in telling Americans about piquillos and escudella and jamón.  At a time when most food journalists were writing about France and Italy, Gerry went off in his own direction to become to first to really tell the story of Spain."


Like I said, some days the Gods smile on you and when the culinary Gods smile on you that is some great day indeed. For many years I have lived believing that the greatest day of my life is still ahead of me, not behind me. Receiving the Silver Spoon Award made this one of my greatest days and it also re-affirmed that the best day of all is still ahead.


Mil gracias a todos, Gerry

From Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December 2009 Gerry Dawes

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About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com