Smithsonian National Museum of American History

José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, and More Honor Alice Waters at Smithsonian Food Gala | Eater DC

"Hosting the Smithsonian’s food history gala to bestow the 2024 Julia Child Award on Alice Waters, the National Museum of American History — which has been the home of Julia Child’s kitchen since 2002 — staged an evening that gathered culinary luminaries (José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, Toni Tipton-Martin, Danny Meyer, Rick Bayless, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken, Grace Young, Sean Sherman and others) and even politicos like Merrick Garland; Jacques Pépin designed a menu honoring Waters’s love of seasonality with dishes such as roasted carrots with harissa yogurt and braised short ribs with cannellini beans, the award carries a $50,000 grant to a food nonprofit of the winner’s choice, and the gala kicked off the museum’s Food History Weekend, which includes talks (Toni Tipton-Martin on October 18), a Rick Bayless cooking demo, industry discussions, and book conversations through Sunday." - Missy Frederick