Former Vindicator writer wins prestigious honor

It's a top honor for fine food and beverage professionals.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
NEW YORK -- For her article describing how misguided government nutrition policies may have fed into the current obesity epidemic and contributed to millions of premature deaths, Allison J. Cleary has won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for food journalism.
Cleary is a former writer for The Vindicator.
A senior editor at Eating Well, The Magazine of Food Health, Cleary wrote "Razing the Pyramid" based on interviews with Dr. Walter Willett, the groundbreaking nutrition researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health.
In the article, Willett contends that low-fat, high-starch diets, pushed by the USDA Food Pyramid, and policies encouraging the consumption of margarine and trans-fats are responsible for some of the serious nutritional ills of American society.
Proposal
Based on findings from the long-term Nurses' and Health Professionals' Studies, tracking the diets and health of more than 250,000 individuals, Willett is proposing a restructured food pyramid that puts fats, carbohydrates and glycemic index issues into new perspective.
Established in 1990, The James Beard Foundation Awards are the premier honors for fine food and beverage professionals in North America, with judging done by more than 500 media and industry experts.
At the awards ceremony, California chef and restaurateur Alice Waters received the foundation's lifetime achievement award.
Waters was honored "for being at the forefront of the American culinary revolution that started in California in the 1970s, for her mentorship to numerous chefs, authors and writers, and for her leadership in the efforts to promote sustainable agriculture."
Robert Egger, founder and director of DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., received the humanitarian of the year award. DC Central Kitchen is a food recovery and meal distribution that is considered to be the first "Community Kitchen."
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