A Star-Studded Line Up Sparks the International Association of Culinary Professionals Summit
If you’re even somewhat food-obessed with accomplished culinary heroes ethos, this year’s pantheon of “stars” at the two-day International Culinary Professionals Summit (IACP) was truly impressive and inspiring. The IACP was founded in 1978 by the food world legends Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, Anne Willan, Nathalie Dupree, and others, so this year’s standouts continued the organization’s impressive legacy. But lest you think the IACP is just for chefs, think again. The professional organization recognizes and nurtures food writers, photographers, stylists, and influencers.
I’ve been an enthusiastic member for some years. They offer all-year round webinars and live events. I’ve been a judge twice for the annual awards ~ once for the cookbook category and once for social media/digital awards.
Shining brightly on the set this year were no less than Dorie Greenspan, Carla Hall, Martha Stewart, and other inspiring food personalities at the Venue at City Harvest in Brooklyn. While I’ve been a City Harvest volunteer for years, I’d never been to the Venue previously. It’s a beautiful space and as Jilly Stephens, CEO, told us as part of her talk, it's frequently used for cooking shows, advertising, photo shoots, and events.
The Summit's opening evening event featured the prestigious IACP Awards that celebrate culinary excellence, announcing the winners of the IACP Cookbook, Digital Media, Food Photography & Styling, and Food Writing Awards. Last year, when I was honored to be a judge for the Digital Media Awards, I was introduced to many Instagram and other social media from energetic food artists. My choice last year was @OMGYUMMY Beth Lee ~ who I recently learned is now writing her cookbook! Cheers to that. 🥂
This year’s award ceremony was co-hosted by Chef Adrian Lipscombe, Farmer Elle Gadient, and TV host Chadwick Boyd. The IACP Cookbook Awards continued its partnership with The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts to award $5,000 to the recipient of the IACP Julia Child First Book Award and support the continuation of the work of a first-time author.
The Digital Media Awards are bestowed across five categories of digital content, including social media platforms, video, audio, and other digital forms.This year, the awards program was led by Lauren Savoie, deputy executive editor at Business Insider, where she oversees the team dedicated to writing unbiased reviews of the best home and kitchen products.
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
THE 2025 DIGITAL MEDIA AWARD WINNERS
Culinary Recipe Website
Daniel Gritzer, Tess Koman, Megan Steintrager, Amanda Suarez, Leah Colins, Genevieve Yam, Yasmine Maggio
Culinary Video Series
Pati Jinich
Instagram Account
Frankie Gaw
Newsletter
The Angel transplanted NYer now writing about the LA food scene
Emily Wilson
Podcast
Cynthia Graber
The IACP Cookbook Awards honor the authors, publishers, and other contributors behind the best cookbooks published each year. According to IACP, the program requires multi-step, rigorous recipe testing in all relevant award categories. Awards are given in 14 categories, and one cookbook is selected by the Executive Committee Members as the IACP Book of the Year.
The cookbook awards program was chaired by last year’s IACP executive committee member, Ken Concepcion, the former chef de cuisine of CUT by Wolfgang Puck in Beverly Hills and the co-founder of Now Serving, the only dedicated cookbook and culinary shop in Los Angeles in nearly ten years in Los Angeles. The chair, along with a dedicated team of 48 judges and five executive committee members made up the cookbook awards committee. The executive committee oversees the review process across fourteen categories.
THE 2025 COOKBOOK AWARD WINNERS
American
Melissa M. Martin
Artisan Books
Baking, Sweet & Savory, Confections and Desserts
Sift: The Elements of Great Baking
Nicola Lamb
Clarkson Potter
Book Design
Deuki Hong; Matt Rodbard
Clarkson Potter
Chefs & Restaurants
Nick Curtola; Gabe Ulla; James Murphy; Contribution by Justin Chearno
Abrams
Food Issues & Matters
Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry
Austin Frerick
Island Press
Food Photography & Styling
Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country
Rogelio Garcia; Andréa Lawson Gray
John Troxell, Photographer
Rogelio Garcia, John Troxell, Andréa Lawson Gray, Stylists
Cameron & Company, a div of Abrams
General
Emily Weinstein; New York Times Cooking
Ten Speed Press
Health & Wellness
The Elements of Baking: Making any recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free or vegan
Katerina Cermelj
Mobius Books
International
My Egypt: Cooking from my Roots
Michael Mina; Adam Sobel; Kate Leahy
Michael Szczerban
Voracious
Literary or Historical Food Writing
Tom Colicchio
Artisan Books
Reference and Technical
One Thousand Vines: A New Way to Understand Wine
Pascaline Lepeltier
Mitchell Beazley
Single Subject
Cara Mangini
Workman Publishing
Wine, Beer or Spirits
The Cocktail Atlas: Around the World in 200+ Drinks
Chris Vola
Union Square & Co.
The IACP Julia Child First Book Award
Presented By The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts
Sift: The Elements of Great Baking
Nicola Lamb
Clarkson Potter
Book of the Year
Koreaworld: A Cookbook
Deuki Hong; Matt Rodbard
Clarkson Potter
The Food Writing Awards honor the best examples of food writing published in print or online across eight categories. This season, the food writing awards were chaired by Jenny Dorsey. Jenny is a professional chef, author, and speaker focused on food as a source of human meaning-making and identity formation. She leads a nonprofit research organization, Studio ATAO, and is currently researching hawker centres in Singapore as a Fulbright-National Geographic Explorer. Jenny is a James Beard Awards nominated writer with a Substack newsletter, titled Way Too Complicated.
THE 2025 FOOD WRITING AWARD WINNERS
Recipe-Focused Column
Southern Living
Jessica B. Harris
Culinary Travel Writing With Recipes
Italians Really Do Eat Spaghetti and Meatballs
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine
J.M. Hirsch
Culinary Travel Writing Without Recipes
Inside the Arctic Circle’s thriving dinner party scene
Financial Times
Jennifer Fergesen
Narrative Beverage Writing
Good Beer Hunting
Yolanda Evans
Narrative Food Writing With Recipes
Italians Really Do Eat Spaghetti and Meatballs
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine
J.M. HirschNarrative Food Writing Without Recipes
Grief, Solidarity, and Molokhia
Eater Chicago
Nylah Iqbal Muhammad
Personal Essays/Memoir Writing
Martha Stewart’s ‘Entertaining’ Let Me Party Like It Was 1982
Eater
Jaya Saxena
Restaurant Criticism/Reviews
Restaurant Reviews by the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Bill Addison, Jenn Harris
Trailblazer Award
The recipients of the Trailblazer Award are chosen for their passion and impact in the food community. This award is intended to acknowledge those individuals who have shaped the culinary world.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The IACP Lifetime Achievement Award is given to individuals who have spent their careers in service to enrich the culinary world.
Pati Jinich
The IACP Awards are among the most prestigious and coveted in the food industry for its rigorous technical testing and the highest ethical standard.
Day Two IACP Summit
Conversation: What’s On The Plate: The Future of Food Recovery and Food Insecurity
Jilly Stephens, CEO, City Harvest
Joe Yonan, Cookbook Author, Journalist
Jilly enlighted and updated us on the looming hunger crisis gripping the country and how she’s managing City Harvest to continue to fuel those in need while facing draconian cutbacks from the federal government. It’s a crusade that we can’t turn away from and not because I’m a volunteer with a bleeding heart ~ but City Harvest does an incredible job. I hope we can all help our neighbors in some way and also support City Harvest efforts to rescue food and redistribute to citizens.
Conversation: Having My Cake and Eating It Too
Dorie Greenspan, Cookbook Author, Journalist
Nancy Hopkins, IACP Acting Executive Director
It was like watching a love match. It was so clear how much Nancy adores Dorie and she was able to coax the elfin Dorie’s fairy tale of a culinary life for us. From her Brooklyn roots and her memories of Charlotte Russe to her Paris life now and cooking for her devoted fans and family.
Her latest book, Dorie’s Anytime Cakes, has just launched. And I am so looking forward to my Les Dames d’Esocoffier Holiday party where we’ll have Dorie all to ourselves 🥰 and I can purchase a few signed copies as gifts. Dorie told us that this cookbook is all about baking simply…
Reflection: My Big Sweet & Spicy Brooklyn Life
Fany Gerson, Cookbook Author, Chef / Founder La Newyorkina, Fan-Fan Doughnuts and Mijo NYC
Fany was so generous in providing us her out-of-this-world doughnuts for breakfast. I can’t admit how many I sampled ~ too scandalous! Thank you, Fany.
We attendees learned so much from experts at Instagram ~ CJ Hernandez had us fully engaged to learn best practices on Instagram and Facebook and Threads.
I daresay we wanted to look away from Jon Flynn’s presentation about incorporating Google Gemini into the Food Professionals Workflow. Jon is the Google AI Leader. But truth is, I for one, was intrigued if not downright enlightened. I mean, as a writer, I feel that using AI to write things is rather like cheating. And a number of food writers in the audience apparently shared this feeling. However, as Jon reminded us, AI is an evolution of technology. And I often said the same thing when I worked in tech ~ that there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle… And it’s true in this case, too ~ like it or not. So I began to understand better and to not think of AI as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (not totally anyway), but instead, learn more and embrace its benefits. I appreciated Jon’s example of producing a book cover and presentations. We’ll see…
Panel: Setting the Table with Substack: Insights from Leading Voices
Panel Lead: Dan Stone, Head of Culture & Music at Substack
Ruth Reichl, Writer, Cook, former Gourmet editor-in-chief. I’ve long adored Ruth’s writing.
Me & Ruth at her 2014 Book Signing!
Robert Sietsema, Freelance Writer and Restaurant Critic
He doesn’t want his face shown ~ he’s a restaurant critic!
Violet Witchel, Recipe Developer and Blogger
This was a very gripping discussion; we all very much appreciated the panelists' forthright insight into writing with Substack ~ how they can get creative on the platform, grow their audience and income, and maintain their own content.
Based on the panel’s input, I am now considering posting my Ladies Who Lunch Conversations there to showcase the inspiring women that I’ve had the honor to interview. I also cross post on my YouTube ~ and yet this might give us even more reach. After all, my guests are world-class and deserve to be seen and heard to the widest audience possible. I’ll keep you posted…
Reflection: A Year in the Life of a Book: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Sublime ~ it was more than a Lemony Snickets year for Steve… ☹️
Steve Hoffman, Journalist and Author: A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France I purchased his book at last year’s Summit and Steve autographed it for me. A Season is a very welcome addition to my home library.
I wish Steve continued success with his book and writing ~ and a better 2026.
Conversation: Kitchen to Camera to Community—Carla Hall’s Playbook for Authentic Content
Carla Hall, Food Media Icon ~ a very beloved icon 🥰🤩
Amanda Rodriguez, Brand Strategist, Carla Hall Brand
I couldn’t love Carla more (always have) ~ she’s so energizing, wise, fun, sweet, down to earth & approachable, not to mention, hard working. I’ve already posted on my Instagram about our happy Summit moments. Carla and Amanda shared their recipes for the Carla Hall brand success.
Me & Carla ~ years ago at Les Dames d’Escoffier event
There was also the talk, Reflection: Beyond the Recipe: Turning Your Culinary Journey into a Story Worth Telling by Tricia Goyer, Author. This woman, who adopted so many children ~ matched only by the number of books she’s authored! How she managed to create a life of love and cooking and writing success is very inspirational.
Closing Reflection
Kyle Jones, Founder / Editor, Bitter Southerner
Javier Cabral, Editor, L.A. Taco
Thank you, IACP.
I hope I’ve introduced you to some compelling baking, mixology, travel, and cooking lit and in turn, you will add to your home library, subscribe to these culinary stars’ newsletters and blogs, and Follow on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and Substack. Their award-winning excellence celebrated at this year’s Summit deserves our gaze and community.
I know I will.
The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) is a renowned organization dedicated to promoting excellence in the culinary world. With a focus on diversity, innovation, and leadership, the IACP continues to inspire and elevate the culinary community through its initiatives and awards programs. The International Association of Culinary Professional Awards recognizes excellence in Cookbooks, Digital Media, Food Writing, and Food Photography & Styling in the culinary industry.
