James Beard American Restaurant at Seven Stars Galleria

Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1903, James Beard was a cookbook author, a cooking teacher, a trendsetter and a taste maker, who emphasized both the bounty of America and the glories of the world of gastronomy. By 1957, the New York Times had already deemed him the “dean of American cookery.” He went on to author dozens of cookbooks, hundreds of articles and thousands of recipes by the time he died in 1985 in his adopted home of New York City. Beard is considered to have laid the foundation for generations of American chefs to explore American ingredients and culinary traditions, while always respecting long-established food cultures, such as those of Italy, France, and China. Founded in 1986, the James Beard Foundation celebrates, nurtures, and honors America's diverse culinary heritage through programs that educate and inspire. The Foundation continues in the same spirit of Beard by administering a number of diverse programs that include educational initiatives, food industry awards, scholarships for culinary students, publications, chef advocacy training, and thought-leadership. The Foundation also maintains the historic James Beard House in New York City’s Greenwich Village as a “performance space” for visiting chefs, on which the James Beard American Restaurant in Milan is modeled. In September of 2012, JBF launched the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Protocol and helped create the American Chef Corps as a way to champion American chefs abroad, promote American food products, and foster an interest in American culinary culture and history through international programs and initiatives. All of the chefs cooking at the James Beard American Restaurant in Milan will become members of the American Chef Corps. For more information, please visit jamesbeard.org.