Fil-Am Food Writer Yasmin Tayag Wins James Beard Media Award

(SPOT.ph) "Thank you, and Knicks in five."

So closed the gracious acceptance speech of 38-year-old Filipino-American Yasmin Tayag, staff writer for The Atlantic, at the 2026 James Beard Media Awards held at the Art Institute of Chicago. Tayag's essays on food as it relates to wellness trends, policy, and culture continue to cement her name as one of the bylines to keep an eye out for.

Although the James Beard Foundation specifically gave her the Health and Wellness Award, which "recognizes excellence in food and/or drink-related health and wellness coverage," it's really her experiences as an "avid eater" (her words) and a person of color living in North America that have shaped and birthed some of her most quoted works.

If her name sounds familiar, you're either a super foodie or just making the correct association with Claude Tayag, her uncle. Yasmin grew up in Toronto and went on to study at the Univeristy of Toronto (English literature and biology), and later New York University.

Her essays cover "the intersection of food, health, policy, and culture," including but not limited to topics like Black farmers in New York fighting the food deserts for Vice, and, of course, Jollibee's continued rise in popularity in the west.

In her words, Jollibee being described as the McDonald’s of the Philippines "doesn’t do the chain justice," but is already well along on its journey to "reshaping the American palate" with its relatively aggressive expansion, looking at 500 stores across the United States before the decade is over. Tayag frames this bold move forward as an interesting, almost mirrored response to the complex set of circumstances that birthed the Filipino chain in the first place.

"Jollibee does not serve American food, not exactly," her January 2026 essay for The Atlantic reads. "The chain is based in the Philippines, which developed a taste for burgers and fried chicken during its years as a U.S. colony, and has since made the foods its own. Despite Jollibee’s off-kilter dishes and feel—or perhaps because of them—Americans are eating it up."

Her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, Vox, Slate, and Bon Appétit.

Also read: Jollibee's Chickenjoy Is Best Fast-Food Fried Chicken in America, Says USA Today