James Beard Award’s 2018 nominations are here! Hear them again.

Last year was a wild ride for both the food industry and food media. Though a number of influential chefs and restaurateurs were swept up in scandal, we also saw the elevation of new and powerful voices. Over the past year, we spoke to over 200 members of the food community about food systems in far-off places, exciting new cookbooks and restaurants, and stories of people working to improve how we grow, harvest, and eat.

The 2018 James Beard Award nominations were just announced, and we were delighted to see so many familiar names on the list, including a handful of first-time nominees.

Here are our conversations with a few of the nominees:

Nominated for Best Book Award ‘Baking and Desserts’— Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

Nominated for Best Book Award ‘General’— Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat

Nominated for Best Book Award ‘Restaurant and Professional’— Modernist Bread by Nathan Myhrvold

Nominated for Best Book Award ‘Writing’— Unforgettable by Emily Thelin

Nominated for Journalism Award ‘Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award’- The World’s Best Restaurant Opens a Pop-Up in Mexico”; “At Vespertine, Jonathan Gold Makes Contact with Otherworldly Cooking by JonathanGold (Los Angeles Times)

Nominated for Best Book Award ‘Single Subject’— The Pho Cookbook by Andrea Nguyen

Nominated for Best Chef: West— Michael Cimarusti (Providence)

Nominated for Best Chef: Northwest— Bonnie Frumpkin Morales (Kachka)

Nominated for Outstanding Service— Zingerman’s Bakery, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Nominated for Journalism Award – “John Besh Restaurants Fostered Culture of Sexual Harassment, 25 Women Say” by Brett Anderson (The Times-Picayune)