First Ten Members Of The Daily Meal Hall Of Fame Announced

Last year, we began the long process of selecting the first ten honorees for the first-ever Daily Meal Hall of Fame. First, we asked a select number of members of The Daily Meal Council — mostly writers and journalists (as opposed to chefs, who might themselves be considered for the honor) — to each nominate ten figures from the food world, living or dead, who they believed have had significant influence on the way we cook and eat and think about food in America today. That yielded a diverse group, from obscure theorists to world-famous celebrity chefs. We next created a shortlist of the 25 people who had received the most votes, and submitted this roster to the 70-plus members of The Daily Meal Council.

We computed the results to arrive at our first ten Hall of Fame members. (We're sure that ten of the "also-rans" will make the list next year.) Beginning on March 25, we have revealed one member a day — accompanied by an appreciation of that person by a member of our Council — starting with the figure who received the fewest qualifying votes (Paul Bocuse), and culminating today with the one who received the most (Julia Child, who, incidentally, outscored second-place member James Beard two-to-one).

The complete list, this time from the top: Julia Child, James Beard, Auguste Escoffier, Alice Waters, Fernand Point, M.F.K. Fisher, Elizabeth David, Thomas Jefferson, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, and Paul Bocuse.

If you don't know who some of these people are or why they're so important, or if you'd like to learn more about familiar names, click here to find The Daily Meal Hall of Fame.