Bay Area Shines at 2025 James Beard Awards for Food Writing

Jorge L.
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San Francisco and the Bay Area Shine at 2025 James Beard Media Awards for Food Writing
photo via @chefrogeliogarcia / Instagram

San Francisco and the Bay Area made a strong impression at the 2025 James Beard Media Awards in Chicago, where six local voices received national honors for their pieces on food and restaurants.

MacKenzie Chung Fegan, who took on the role of San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic in 2024, won the Emerging Voice in Journalism award. Her work stood out for its clarity and insight. Notably, her Tadich Grill review received third place from the Society of Features Journalism. Fegan also writes the weekly “Bite Curious” newsletter and helped relaunch the Chronicle’s Top 100 restaurants list alongside Cesar Hernandez.

Reflecting on the recognition, Fegan said, “It’s an honor to be recognized by the journalism awards subcommittee. My first year as a restaurant critic has been the definition of a learning experience, and I’m eternally grateful for the support of my editors at the Chronicle, associate restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez and my predecessor Soleil Ho.”

Meanwhile, Sebastopol chef and podcaster Preeti Mistry won the Audio Programming category for an episode of “Loading Dock Talks with Chef Preeti Mistry” titled “Cream Pie with Telly Justice,” which focused on identity and food. In addition, Napa chef Rogelio Garcia and his co-author Andréa Lawson Gray secured the Professional & Restaurant Book Award for their cookbook Convivir: Modern Mexican Cuisine in California’s Wine Country.

Also winning big, George McCalman and Jeff Gordinier of Food & Wine received the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. Their feature story, “The City that Rice Built,” explored Charleston, SC, history with rice cultivation.

  • MacKenzie Fegan earned Emerging Voice in Journalism
  • Preeti Mistry won for an episode of their podcast
  • Rogelio Garcia and Andréa Lawson Gray received a cookbook award
  • George McCalman and Jeff Gordinier secured the essay award

Meanwhile… No Wins for Chefs and Restaurants

Although Bay Area chefs and restaurants did not win in the main chef and restaurant categories for the third consecutive year, these media awards demonstrated the region’s creative influence in food writing and storytelling.

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