Whoever he or she is, Ruth Bourdain wins a Beard →
Ruth Bourdain: acerbic, androgynous, foul-mouthed, totally fictitious and now…? James Beard Foundation winner.
On Friday, the so-called Oscars of the food world honored Ruth Bourdain — the made-up online mash-up of culinary icons Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain — with its first ever award for humor writing.
In some ways the award was a nod not just to the still anonymous man or woman behind the profanely funny spoof of wise-cracking Bourdain and former Gourmet magazine editor-in-chief Reichl. It also recognized the rising power of social media in food. Ruth Bourdain became a sensation during the past year almost exclusively by posting biting 140-character messages (most of them unfit to reprint) on Twitter.
