ELV note: Merci beaucoup to Patricia Thacker (Food Gal #1 and The Official Ex-Wife of ELV) for sending us this article. Continue after the jump for the complete list of  James Beard Foundation Media & Book Award Winners, or, as we call it around the ELV household, Passover.

Check out some of the year’s most important stories written about food, all in the running for this week’s Beard Awards.The James Beard Foundation hosts its prestigious award ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 3. Much like James Beard, the man himself—a quintessential American cook who loved to eat—the Oscars of the food world tends to favor upscale dining in big city places. While the foundation could make a bold statement by highlighting more cooks who are making a difference by making dinner, in at least one category, it’s shown it is willing to award a combination of food and social change—a viable and visible countercuisine.

Beard was a “patron saint of culinary values,” according to food writer David Kamp, and as more reviewers move away from being mere culinary mentors towards acting as consumer advocates, one of the James Beard Award’s categories—for food journalism—shows just how contemporaries are serving up social values through food.

Here are eight of nominees worth reading:

“In Through the Back Door” in The Oxford American
John T. Edge consistently writes about Southern food with a scholarly flourish. He doesn’t celebrate virtuous eaters and hipster farmers; instead, he writes about how food can bridge fractured race and class relations, in this case, with greasy, hickoried pork-shoulder sandwiches known as barbecue. (ELV note: we have eaten at Craig’s Barbecue in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas (twice with Food Gal #1) and it’s one of many reasons we are such barbecue snobs when it comes what passes for such in these here parts.)

“A Hunger to Help” in Westword
Jared Jacang Maher looks at a restaurant in Colorado using the same method of paying the bills that Radiohead used for In Rainbow. Patrons can pay $5 or $15, and the soup-kitchen crowd mingles with vegan punks, and where culinary idealism meets social justice.

“Throwing Out the Wheat” in Slate
Dan Engber questions the latest diet fad: gluten-free. Going G-free is expensive, maybe not altogether worth it, and gluten intolerance is often misdiagnosed. Engber delicately suggests that gluten anxiety—and the media hype surrounding it—might just be another manifestation of another condition: general food anxiety. (ELV note: every time we hear someone say they’re gluten-intolerant, we want to shove a baguette down their throat.)

“Nachos for Lunch? Yes, Every Day” in the Chicago Tribune
Monica Eng finds that the gooey, cheesy fried tortilla snack have gone from ballpark standby to school-lunch staple. If you want an abbreviated version of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution—without the made-for-reality-TV gimmicks—this piece succinctly tackles the complex subject of school lunch reform from the lunch line up.

“The Charcuterie Underground” in the Chicago Reader
The federal rules for curing meat, it turns out, were designed for industrial food processors. As part of year-long series, Mike Sula visits two guys running a small-scale bacon and sausage company—who represent part of the politicized front line of the nation’s growing charcuterie revival.

“Not So Clear Cut” in the Houston Press
What’s really in a fajita? Robb Walsh tracks down the origins of a beefy, Tex-Mex mystery meat, and comes up with some intriguing discoveries—not only what’s in a tortilla, but also what’s in a name.

“The Price of Tomatoes” in Gourmet
Barry Eastabrook visits the tomato capital of the United States and finds dozens of underpaid workers living in squalid conditions. In his simple, evocative piece, the ever-intrepid reporter sheds some much-needed light on the social costs of growing many supermarket tomatoes.

2010 JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION
MEDIA & BOOK AWARD WINNERS

Book Awards
Presented by Green & Black’s® Organic Chocolate

American Cooking
Real Cajun
by Donald Link with Paula Disbrowe
(Clarkson Potter)

Baking and Dessert
Baking
by James Peterson
(Ten Speed Press)

Beverage
Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology
by Randall Grahm
(University of California Press)

Cooking from a Professional Point of View
The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts
by The French Culinary Institute with Judith Choate
(Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

General Cooking
Ad Hoc at Home
by Thomas Keller with Dave Cruz
(Artisan Books)

Healthy Focus
Love Soup: 160 All-New Vegetarian Recipes from the Author of “The Vegetarian Epicure”
by Anna Thomas
(W.W. Norton & Company)

International
The Country Cooking of Ireland
by Colman Andrews
(Chronicle Books)

Photography
Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way
Photographer: Santiago Soto Monllor
(Artisan Books)

Reference and Scholarship

Encyclopedia of Pasta
by Oretta Zanini de Vita
Translated by Maureen B. Fant
(University of California Press)

Single Subject
Pasta Sfoglia
by Ron and Colleen Suhanosky
with Susan Simon
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

Writing and Literature
Save the Deli
by David Sax
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Cookbook of the Year
The Country Cooking of Ireland
by Colman Andrews
(Chronicle Books)

Cookbook Hall of Fame
A Book of Middle Eastern Food
by Claudia Roden

Broadcast Media Awards
Presented by Lenox Tableware and Gifts
For television, webcast, and radio programs aired in 2009.

Audio Webcast or Radio Show
The Kojo Nnamdi Show
Host: Kojo Nnamdi
Areas: Washington, D.C., Online
Producers: Tara Boyle, Michael Martinez, Ingalisa Schrobsdorff, Brendan Sweeney, and Diane Vogel

Television Show, In Studio or Fixed Location
French Food at Home with Laura Calder
Host: Laura Calder
Network: Food Network Canada
Producer: Johanna Eliot

Television Show, On Location
Chefs A’ Field: King of Alaska
Host: Rick Moonen
Network: PBS
Producers: Heidi Hanson and Chris Warner

TV Food Personality
Andrew Zimmern
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
Network: The Travel Channel

Television Special
Food Trip with Todd English
Host: Todd English
Network: PBS
Producers: Matt Cohen, Joel Coblenz, Todd English, and Gina Gargano

Television Segment
ABC News Nightline
Host: John Berman
Network: ABC
Producer: Sarah Rosenberg

Video Webcast
The Greenmarket: One Farmer’s Story
Seriouseats.com
Producers: Ed Levine, Serious Eats, and Optic Nerve

Journalism Awards
For articles published in English in 2009. Winners will be announced on May 2, 2010.

Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews
Jonathan Gold
LA Weekly
“Sauced,” “Hot Birria, Cold Cerveza,” “Hare Today”

Food Blog
Serious Eats
Ed Levine
Seriouseats.com

Food-Related Columns
Rachel Wharton
Edible Brooklyn
Column: Back of the House
“Egg,” “Roberta’s,” “Franny’s and Bklyn Larder”

Magazine Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs
Anya von Bremzen
Saveur
“Soul of a City”

Magazine Feature Writing with Recipes
Francine Maroukian, Jon Reiner, and Staff of Esquire
Esquire
“How Men Eat”

Magazine Feature Writing without Recipes
Barry Estabrook
Gourmet
“The Price of Tomatoes”

M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
Francine Prose
Saveur
“Faith and Bacon”

Multimedia Food Feature
Kevin Pang
Chicagotribune.com
“The Cheeseburger Show”

Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs
Jared Jacang Maher
Westword
“A Hunger to Help”

Newspaper Feature Writing
Cliff Doerksen
Chicago Reader
“The Real American Pie”

Newspaper Food Section
The Washington Post
Joe Yonan

Reporting on Health, Environment, or Nutrition
Rowan Jacobsen
EatingWell
“…Or Not to Bee”

Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurants, or Nutrition
Chow.com
Jane Goldman

Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Minnesota Monthly
“Chardonnay Uncorked”