On alternating years, Les Dames d'Escoffier International bestows the honor of naming a woman as Grande Dame of Les Dames d'Escoffier International. This honorary title is given in recognition of extraordinary and unusual contributions to the fields of food, wine, other fine beverage, nutrition, the arts of the table, or other fields that relate to these disciplines. This title may be awarded to both non-members and members of Les Dames d'Escoffier.

• 2011 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Nathalie Dupree
• 2009 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Shirley Corriher
• 2007 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Alice Waters (click here for video)
• 2005 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Marcella Hazan
• 2003 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Abigail Kirsch and Rosemary Kowalski
• 2001 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Jerry Anne DiVecchio
• 1999 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Edna Lewis
• 1997 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Madeleine Kamman
• 1995 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Anne Willan
• 1993 Grande Dame Award Recipient: Marion Cunningham

Grand Dames Honored by Chapters before the formation of LDEI

• Carol Brock
• M.F.K. Fisher
• Julia Child
• Grace Chu
• Nika Hazelton
• Helen McCully
• Caroline Rose Hunt
• Helen Bullock
• Julie Dannenbaum

LDEI presents the M.F.K. Fisher Award every two years. Originally, the award was designed recognize and support a woman in mid-career whose work directly impacts the areas of food, beverage and arts of the table. The Award honors M.F.K. Fisher, a widely read and lauded culinary writer whose works are appreciated by general readers as well as culinary professionals. Women worldwide are eligible to be nominated for the award.

In 2006, the M.F.K. Fisher Awards program was completely redesigned. The award now recognizes excellence in culinary writing. For information on the awards program, click on the links below.

2012 MFK Fisher Award Application

MFK Fisher Award Recipients:

• 2012 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Jess Thomson
• 2010 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Natalie MacLean
• 2008 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Louisa Kasdon
• 2006 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Kitty Crider
• 2004 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Andrea Immer
• 2002 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Mary Risely
• 2000 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Katherine Mary Alex
• 1998 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Barbara Haber
• 1996 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Cathrine Sneed
• 1994 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Deborah Madison
• 1992 MFK Fisher Award Recipient: Linda Bisson

Celebrate the life and accomplishments of M.F.K. Fisher at  www.mfkfisher.com.

Les Dames d’Escoffier International Legacy Awards, Supported by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, Offer Professional Wisdom to Women Working in Food and Wine

Imagine working side by side with award winning caterers in Atlanta or Seattle. Experience the harvest at one of California’s oldest and best known family-owned wineries. Learn from an award-winning pastry chef in Dallas or a leading specialty produce grower and a dynamic vintner on the North Fork of Long Island

The 2013 LDEI Legacy Awards is comprised of six awards given in three categories: 1) Culinary-Catering in Seattle with Dame Lisa Dupar and another award for Catering experience in Atlanta in collaboration with seven Dames; 2) Wine with Dame Carolyn Wente, CEO of Wente Family Estates in Livermore, CA (two awards available); and 3) Entrepreneurship – Pastry Production with Dame Shari Carlson in Dallas, TX and Entrepreneurship Farm-to-Table on Long Island, NY with Dames Ursula Massoud, Paumanok Vineyards and Paulette Satur, Satur Farms.
 

Established in 2009, each Legacy Award offers a one week workplace experience to non-Dame women in the USA and Canada. Candidates must have at least four years of professional experience and be working currently in the food or fine beverage industries. Under the direction of extremely successful, award-winning Dames, each Legacy experience is a high energy, labor intensive and career expanding opportunity.
 

The award program doubled in size in 2012 thanks to a generous donation from the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, www.juliachildfoundation.org, which was created by Julia in 1995 for the purpose of supporting 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. Dame Susy Davidson, who works with the Foundation, expressed that this grant was in “perfect alignment with the Foundation’s goal to further Julia’s passion for gastronomy and the culinary arts, her far-reaching impact as a teacher and mentor, and her lifelong love of learning. She was a mentor to so many women in the culinary world and had great affection for Les Dames d’Escoffier as an organization.”
 

Travel and hotel expenses up to US $2,000 will be reimbursed for each winner. Applications must be submitted by April 25, 2013. The fourth annual Les Dames d’Escoffier International Legacy Awards will be announced on May 31 and must be fulfilled by October 20, 2013.
 

For an application, click here.  For press release, click here. 
 

Further information is available from the Legacy Awards Co-Chairs, Dames Marsha Palanci 212-605-0370, mpalanci@cornerstonepr.com or Toria Emas 312-554-2141, temas@chicagobar.org.