Erwan Heussaff wins 2023 James Beard Broadcast Media Award

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 4) — Filipino-French content creator Erwan Heussaff won in the Social Media Account category of the James Beard Awards, considered as the Oscars of the culinary world.

Heussaff bagged the 2023 James Beard Broadcast Media Award for his Instagram account. The awarding ceremony was held in Chicago, United States on Sunday (Manila time).

The celebrity chef runs media company FEATR and The Fat Kid Inside Studios to produce content highlighting Filipino cuisine, travel, and culture.

In his acceptance speech, Heussaff thanked the crew of the media company, his wife actress Anne Curtis, and daughter Dahlia Amelie for allowing him to “travel to tough places to create stories."

"Anywhere you go in the world, you'll meet Filipinos, especially in the food and beverage industry," he said. "In fact, one of our largest revenue streams as a country are Filipinos who are working overseas, yet not a lot is known about our culture or our food.”

He also said tons of people said Filipino food is the next big thing, and he is “obsessed with trying to figure out how to it make just the big thing."

"And so, this (award) for me means absolutely everything because it just motivates me further to keep shining a light on our beautiful country, beautiful people, and the food that is made in our kitchen," he added.

Heussaff bested Andrew Huang, Ewa Huang, and Jeromy Ko of “Nom Life.” Another nominee in the category was the Kalamata's Kitchen Staff who runs the channel “Kalamata’s Kitchen - Of Course It's Kid Friendly.”

The award for social media "recognizes excellence in a single food-related post, or compilation of up to three posts, that clearly represents the intention of the Facebook page, Twitter account, TikTok account, Instagram feed, or other social media format."

Winners for the 2023 James Beard Leadership Award and Restaurant and Chef Award will be announced in the coming days.

Three chefs with Filipino roots also received nods in the prestigious awards, namely Vince Bugtong and Margarita Manzke in the "Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker" category, and Aaron Verzosa for "Best Chef in the Northwest and the Pacific."

READ: Three Filipino chefs score nominations in 2023 James Beard Awards

The awards are presented by the US-based James Beard Foundation, a non-profit organization with a "mission to celebrate, support, and elevate the people behind America's food culture and champion a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity, and sustainability."