James Andrew Beard was
born on May 5, 1903 in Portland, Oregon, to Elizabeth and John Beard.
His mother, an independent English woman passionate about food,
ran a boarding house. His father worked at Portland's Customs House.
The family spent summers at the beach at Gearhart, Oregon, fishing,
gathering shellfish and wild berries, and cooking meals with whatever
was caught.
After a brief stint at
Reed College in Portland, in 1923 Beard went on the road with a
theatrical troupe. He lived abroad for several years studying voice
and theater, but returned to the United States for good in 1927.
Although he kept trying to break into the theater and movies, by
1935 he needed to supplement what was a very non-lucrative career
and began a catering business. He revolutionized what then passed
for cocktail food by offering more substantive fare. With the opening
of a small food shop called Hors d'Oeuvre, Inc., in 1937, Beard
finally realized that his future lay in the world of food and cooking.
In
1940, Beard penned what was then the first major cookbook devoted
exclusively to cocktail food, Hors d'Oeuvre & CanapΓ©s.
In 1942 he followed it up with Cook It Outdoors, the first
serious work on outdoor cooking. Beard spent the war years with
a brief stint in cryptography, but he primarily served with the
United Seamen's Service, setting up sailors' canteens in Puerto
Rico, Rio de Janeiro, Marseilles, and Panama.
When
he returned to New York in 1945, Beard became totally immersed in
the culinary community. Between 1945 and 1955 he published Fowl
and Game Cookery, The Fireside Cookbook, Paris Cuisine,
James Beard's Fish Cookery, How to Eat Better for Less
Money (with Sam Aaron of the Sherry-Lehmann wine store), The
Complete Book of Outdoor Cookery (with Helen Evans Brown), and
The Casserole Cookbook. He appeared in his own segment on
television's first cooking show on NBC in 1946, and then on many
other spots on television and radio. He contributed articles and
columns to Woman's Day, Gourmet and House &
Garden, served as a consultant to many restaurateurs and food
producers, and ran his own restaurant on Nantucket. He became the
focal point of the entire American food world.
In 1955, he established
The James Beard Cooking School. He continued to teach cooking to
men and women for the next 30 years, both at his own schools (in
New York City and Seaside, Oregon), and around the country at women's
clubs, other cooking schools, and civic groups. He was a tireless
traveler, bringing his message of good food, honestly prepared with
fresh, wholesome, American ingredients, to a country just becoming
aware of its own culinary heritage.
Beard
also continued to write cookbooks, most of which became classics
and many of which are still in print: The James Beard Cookbook
(1959), James Beard's Treasury of Outdoor Cooking (1960),
Delights and Prejudices (1964), James Beard's Menus for
Entertaining (1965), James Beard's American Cookery (1972),
Beard on Bread (1973), Beard on Food (1974), James
Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking (1977), The New
James Beard (1981), and Beard on Pasta (1983).
When
James Beard died at 81 on January 21, 1985, he left a legacy of
culinary excellence and integrity to generations of home cooks and
professional chefs. He was hailed as "The Dean of American
Cookery" and his name remains synonymous with American food.
(c) James Beard Foundation
© 2003-2026