Chefs may hold their breath over the nominees for the James Beard Foundation awards. And the same is true for cookbook authors, who found out Monday which volumes made the list of JBF finalists. The winners will be announced May 3 in New York City.

American Cooking

"Fire in My Belly," by Kevin Gillespie and David Joachim (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

"Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking," by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart (Gibbs Smith)

"Southern Comfort: A New Take on the Recipes We Grew Up With," by Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing (Ten Speed Press)

Baking and Dessert

"Southern Comfort: A New Take on the Recipes We Grew Up With," by Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing

"Bouchon Bakery," by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel (Artisan)

"The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle," by Tom Douglas and Shelley Lance (William Morrow)

"Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza," by Ken Forkish (Ten Speed Press)

Beverage

"How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto," by Eric Asimov (William Morrow)

"Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures," by Paul Lukacs (W.W. Norton & Company)

"Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours," by Julia Harding, Jancis Robinson and José Vouilla­moz (Ecco)

Cooking from a Professional Point of View

"Come In, We're Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World's Best Restaurants," by Christine Carroll and Jody Eddy (Running Press)

"The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Italian Cuisine," by the International Culinary Center, Cesare Casella and Stephanie Lyness (Abrams)

"Toqué! Creators of a New Quebec Gastronomy," by Normand Laprise (les éditions du passage)

Focus on Health

"Cooking Light: The New Way to Cook Light: Fresh Food & Bold Flavors for Today's Home Cook," by Scott Mowbray and Ann Taylor Pittman (Oxmoor House)

"The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods," by Sara Forte (Ten Speed Press)

"True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure," by Sam Fox and Andrew Weil with Michael Stebner (Little, Brown and Company)

General Cooking

“Burma: Rivers of Flavor,” by Naomi Duguid

"Canal House Cooks Every Day," by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

"Modernist Cuisine at Home," by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet (The Cooking Lab)

"What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits & Pieces," by Katie Quinn Davies (Viking Studio)

International

"Burma: Rivers of Flavor," by Naomi Duguid (Artisan)

"Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America," by Maricel E. Presilla (W.W. Norton & Company)

"Jerusalem: A Cookbook," by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi (Ten Speed Press)

Photography

"Bouchon Bakery," photographer Deborah Jones (Artisan)

"Toqué! Creators of a New Quebec Gastronomy," photographer Dominique Malaterre (les éditions du passage)

"What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits & Pieces," photographer Katie Quinn Davies (Viking Studio)

Reference and Scholarship

"101 Classic Cookbooks: 501 Classic Reci­pes," by Marvin J. Taylor and Clark Wolf (Rizzoli New York)

"The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World," by Sandor Ellix Katz (Chelsea Green Publishing)

"The Cookbook Library: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes That Made the Modern Cookbook," by Anne Willan with Mark Cherniavsky and Kyri Claflin (University of California Press)

Single Subject

"Afield: A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish," by Jesse Griffiths (Welcome Books)

"Modern Sauces: More Than 150 Recipes for Every Cook, Every Day," by Martha Holmberg (Chronicle Books)

"Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard," by Nigel Slater (Ten Speed Press)

Vegetable Focused and Vegetarian

"Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer's Market," by Tama Matsuoka Wong with Eddy Leroux (Clarkson Potter Publishers)

"Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution, With 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes," by Michael Natkin (The Harvard Common Press)

"Roots: The Definitive Compendium With More Than 225 Recipes," by Diane Morgan (Chronicle Books)

Writing and Literature

"The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table," by Tracie McMillan (Scribner)

"The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance," by Thomas McNamee (Free Press)

"Yes, Chef: A Memoir," by Marcus Samuelsson (Random House)