Editing James Beard (section)

==Personal life==
[[Julia Child]] summed up Beard's personal life:
<blockquote>Beard was the quintessential American cook. Well-educated and well-traveled during his eighty-two years, he was familiar with many cuisines but he remained fundamentally American. He was a big man, over six feet tall, with a big belly, and huge hands. An endearing and always lively teacher, he loved people, loved his work, loved gossip, loved to eat, loved a good time.<ref name="childsvi"/></blockquote>
[[Mark Bittman]] described him in a manner similar to Child's description:<blockquote>In a time when serious cooking meant French Cooking, Beard was quintessentially American, a Westerner whose mother ran a boardinghouse, a man who grew up with hotcakes and salmon and meatloaf in his blood. A man who was born a hundred years ago on the other side of the country, in a city, Portland, that at the time was every bit as cosmopolitan as, say, [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania]].<ref>Beard, ''James Beard Beard on Food'', pg. viii</ref></blockquote>

Beard admitted, "until I was about forty-five, I guess I had a really violent temper."<ref>Beard, ''A James Beard Memoir,'' pg. 20–21.</ref>

Beard was [[gay]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/opinion/sunday/food-sex-and-silence.html Food, sex and silence]</ref> According to Beard's memoir, "By the time I was seven, I knew that I was gay. I think it's time to talk about that now."<ref>James Beard, ''The James Beard Celebration Cookbook'', pg. 24</ref> Beard [[came out]] in 1981, in ''Delights and Prejudices'', a revised version of his [[memoir]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/americas-most-influential-chef-was-gay-as-hell/|title=America's Most Influential Chef was Gay as Hell|last=Shadel|first=Jon|date=2017-05-01|website=Vice|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-29}}</ref> Of Beard's "most significant romantic attachments" was his "lifetime companion" of thirty years,<ref name=":0" /> Gino Cofacci, who was given an apartment in Beard's townhouse in the will and died in 1989,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-beard-timeline/8555/|title=James Beard: Timeline {{!}} American Masters {{!}} PBS|date=2017-05-24|website=American Masters|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-29}}</ref> and Beard's former cooking school assistant Carl Jerome.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-27-fo-9904-story,amp.html|title=Two New Beard Biographies Ignite Bonfire of the Foodies : Books: The chef who once called himself 'a butter boy' is the topic of tasteless bickering whipped up by followers who wish to inherit his richly caloric mantle.|date=1990-12-27|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-06-29|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> John Birdsall, a food writer who won two James Beard Awards, ties Beard's sexuality to his [[food aesthetics]], and said in 2016 it was only recently that people are accepting the connection.<ref name=":0" />