At this week’s James Beard Foundation awards — the SF Chronicle called them “Academy Awards of the culinary industry” — California author Mollie Katzen’s classic Moosewood Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 1997) was inducted into the foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame. This is a distinction given to cookbooks that the foundation deems to have made “a significant and enduring impact on the way we cook and understand food.” From the foundation:

In 1977, when Mollie Katzen created a book about the food served at Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, vegetarianism was still an exotic way of life to most Americans. However, there was something about Katzen’s hand-lettered recipes and charming drawings that captured the attention and affection of both vegetarians and omnivores. Since then, Katzen has written eight more books, including three for children, and revised the Moosewood Cookbook in 1999 to reflect new ideas on healthy eating. Original or updated, Moosewood Cookbook is a treasured possession of the many thousands who love it for proving that meatless eating can be a pleasure.

More California winners: In the “Writing on Food” category, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan; In photography, Michael Mina: The Cookbook, by Michael Mina with photography by Karl Petzke; In the “Single Subject” category, The Essence of Chocolate: Recipes from Scharffen Berger Chocolate Makers and Cooking with Fine Chocolate, by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. Read more about awards at the James Beard Foundation’s web site.