What the Oscars and Tonys are to film and theater, the James Beard Awards are to American food. And yet, little was known about its namesake chef beyond his accomplishments in the kitchen. Amply filling the gap is the new biography by a two-time winner of the James Beard Awards, chef and cookbook author John Birdsall.
In The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard, Birdsall chronicles and explores the public and private lives of a chef who (literally) loomed large. Bald and shiny, Beard towered over ovens at six foot three; he weighed 300 pounds and cut an instantly recognizable figure on television and cookbook covers. But his influence on how we eat today is far more enduring than his image. “If you believe in local food,” Birdsall begins, “bakers who employ patience and their hands, and American wines expressive of soil and tradition, you owe a debt to James Beard.”
During that post-World War II phase when Americans embraced the convenience of canned goods and the space age thrill of TV dinners, Beard said “No!” At a time when Americans gobbled hamburgers on the go, Beard proposed better burgers, and when fancy dining meant faux-French restaurants, Beard said we can learn from the French while remaining true to America’s own stock of game, produce and culinary customs. By the time of his death in 1985, Beard’s was still the minority view in mainstream America but was becoming influential, thanks in part to a new generation of chefs he inspired as well as growing awareness on the downsides of processed food and the arrival of new ethnic cusinines even backward parts of the country.
In his careful reconsideration of Beard’s life, Birdsall shows that his subject was acutely aware of the flavor and aroma of food from a young age. He also knew that he liked boys, sexually. Beard was expelled from a small college in Portland after a hushed-up scandal and remained cautious for the rest of his life. Arriving in New York, he gained entry to Manhattan’s plush-appointed affluent gay subculture as party planner—the guy who could whip together hors d’oeuvres to die for. He turned his cocktail hour triumphs into a profession.
Along with its strength as a biography carefully assembled by inference and reference to context, The Man Who Ate Too Much is a delicious book to read. Birdsall’s descriptions of roasted duck in an orange-flavored sauce or “alligator pears with flesh as smooth and rich as custard” are mouth-watering appreciations for the joy of a good meal.
