Leah Chase to receive James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award

NEW YORK – The James Beard Foundation announced that Leah Chase of New Orleans, renowned chef, author and television personality has been named the recipient of the 2016 James Beard Lifetime Achievement award, and the Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries, has been named the recipient of the 2016 James Beard Humanitarian of the Year award.
The Lifetime Achievement award is bestowed upon a person in the industry whose lifetime body of work has had a positive and long-lasting impact on the way we eat, cook, and think about food in America. The Humanitarian of the Year award is given to an individual or organization whose work in the realm of food has improved the lives of others and benefited society at large.
Chase and Boyle will be honored at this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards on May 2 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
“We are very excited to honor these two outstanding individuals whose contributions to not only the food and beverage industry, but society as a whole, are boundless,” said Susan Ungaro, president of the James Beard Foundation. “Both Leah and Father Greg have impacted the lives of so many people, and we know that their legacies will continue to inspire our community for decades to come.”
Known as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine,” Chase was married in 1946 to Edgar “Dooky” Chase Jr., and together they worked in his parents’ restaurant. With a shared vision they transformed Dooky Chase’s, which was once a sandwich shop, barroom, lottery ticket outlet and neighborhood gathering place, into a sit-down restaurant wrapped within the cultural environment of Creole cooking, African-American art and jazz.
In a town deeply divided by segregation, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, which is still open today, was one of the only public places in New Orleans where mixed race groups could meet to discuss strategy for the local Civil Rights Movement, according to the James Beard news release. The restaurant was the meeting ground for black voter registration campaign organizers, the NAACP, political activists, and countless others, and Leah Chase cooked for them all.
Her original dishes would help pioneer the Creole food movement, and her recipes for dishes like gumbo, jambalaya and fried chicken have gone on to become kitchen staples. Leah Chase is also a patron of the arts, and her collection — displayed on the walls of her restaurant — was at one time considered New Orleans’s best collection of African-American art.
As a writer of two cookbooks and winner of countless food and humanitarian awards, she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America in 2010.
“I am overwhelmed to receive such a prestigious award,” said Leah Chase. “I never dreamt of receiving such an award for doing what I love to do: cook and serve others.”
The 2016 Humanitarian of the Year award recipient, Boyle, is the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. As a Jesuit priest, Boyle has dedicated his life to helping those in need.
In 1986 he was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles, at the time the poorest Catholic parish in the city, located amidst two large public housing projects and the territory of numerous rival gangs.
Boyle launched Homeboy Bakery in 1992 in the aftermath of the civil unrest in Los Angeles, and ever since former enemy gang members have worked side by side, learning both business and baking skills together. Its success created the groundwork for additional social enterprises with the Homeboy brand including Homegirl Café & Catering,
“I am honored and humbled by this recognition,” Father Boyle said, “but also heartened, because it acknowledges, as well, a community on the margins that has long been demonized. This award, then, imagines a circle of compassion outside of which no one is left standing.”
Established in 1990, the James Beard Awards recognize culinary professionals for excellence and achievement in their fields and further the Foundation’s mission to celebrate, nurture, and honor America’s diverse culinary heritage through programs that educate and inspire.
Each award category has an individual committee made up of industry professionals who volunteer their time to oversee the policies, procedures, and selection of judges for their respective Awards program. All JBF Award winners receive a certificate and a medallion engraved with the James Beard Foundation Awards insignia. There are no cash prizes.
The Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists will be announced Feb. 17. Nominees for all award categories will be revealed on March 15.