The August issue marks the magazine's fifth anniversary, and to celebrate we have dedicated August to our annual Feast 50 Awards, celebrating the best of the best in food and drink.

The awards are made up of 50 categories and divided into three geographic areas: St. Louis, Kansas City and mid-Missouri/southern Illinois. This past spring, Feast readers voted for their favorites in the online Feast 50 Awards poll (more than 100,000 votes were cast!), and the winners are featured in the following pages.

Throughout Feast 50 you’ll meet chefs, restaurant owners, brewers, winemakers, farmers and food-and-drink producers whose work is impacting our growing Midwest food culture. What’s clear is that no matter where you live in the region, there are chefs and artisans dedicated to making, growing and cooking high-quality food and drink.

Cheers and congratulations to all the winners in this year’s Feast 50 Awards!