The 15 finalists for the 2022-23 edition of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy competition have been selected, and now the build-up to the Grand Finale begins.

SOUTH AFRICA, CAPE TOWN – S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy is pleased to announce that the Grand Finale of the 2022-23 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition will be held in Milan on 4 and 5 October. The event identifies and recognises the best young chefs in the world and celebrates the talents that will lead the evolution of the gastronomy sector.

Between September 2022 and January 2023, a total of 165 young chefs from around the world took part in the fascinating and highly competitive Regional Finals. A local jury of renowned chefs judged the live cooking competitions in 15 different regions. For the first time, the regional events hosted the insightful Brain Food Forum curated by Fine Dining Lovers, to provide stimulating ideas and reflections related to the world of gastronomy. Over 50 renowned chefs, protagonists of the international culinary community, engaged in inspiring conversations where they explored the industry’s most relevant themes.

The winners of the main S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award from each regional event, will attend the Grand Finale, and compete in a cook-off on the global stage. Starting at the end of June, the collateral award winners as selected in each region will participate in an online voting process, these chefs will then be announced before the Grand Finale. They are the S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award, the winner of which will be chosen by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award, selected by the mentors of the competition, and the Food for Thought Award, voted by the readers of Fine Dining Lovers.

Stefano Bolognese, Sanpellegrino International Business Unit Director, said:

“We launched the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition in 2015 to nurture the future of gastronomy by discovering young talents from all over the world. The number of applicants for this fifth edition alone – over 4000 globally, has confirmed the value of the project. The competition is also a pathway to the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, a global community – more than 2000 talented chefs strong – with the aim to engage chefs through a series of activities designed to inspire, connect and educate. The Grand Finale, to be held in October, is a final step and a key moment in our discovery process. Sanpellegrino wishes all the finalists, the best of Luck.”

Those competing for the grand title will have the opportunity to cook their signature dishes again, this time in front of a grand jury composed of seven giants of international gastronomy: Eneko Atxa, Riccardo Camanini, Hélène Darroze, Vicky Lau, Pía León, Julien Royer and Nancy Silverton. The jurors will evaluate the finalists based on three golden rules: technical ability, creativity and personal belief, and the chefs' potential to create positive change in society through food. On their way to the Grand Finale, the young chefs will continue to work closely with their respective mentors to perfect their recipes for the global stage.

The 15 regional winners of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award, at local level, and their mentors are:

Erick Alfredo Bautista Chacon, mentored by Lula Martin Del Campo, with the signature dish ‘Oaxaca, its land and its hands’ (Latin America & Caribbean);Raul Garcia, mentored by Stefan Heilemann, with the signature dish

‘Pike perch, mussels, artichoke, vin jaune, barigoule nage’ (West Europe);

Anton Lebersorger, mentored by Daniel Gottschlich with the signature dish ‘Bresse chicken, carrot from Schmidener Feld, kimchi, and Thai béarnaise’ (Central Europe);Marcus Clayton, mentored by Lisa Goodwin-Allen, with the signature dish ‘Celeriac, apple and mushroom’ (UK);Robin Wagner, mentored by Peter Gilmore, with the signature dish

‘Smoked celeriac, Granny Smith apple and crispy taro’ (Pacific);

Pierre-Olivier Pelletier, mentored by Suzanne Barr, with the signature dish ‘Young aged and smoked duck with sweet grass, yellow birch syrup lacquer with crispy cereal, carotene dressing, roasted cereal gravy, and verge d’or’ (Canada);Jet Loos, mentored by Dick Middelweerd, with the signature dish ‘Flavour of the sea’ (North Europe);Daniel Garwood, mentored by Nina Compton, with the signature dish

'Aged duck and persimmon in tak cheongju with banchan through the eyes of a traveller’ (US);

Yi Zhang, mentored by Stefano Bacchelli, with the signature dish ‘A trip to Guangxi’ (Mainland China);Ian Goh, mentored by Dave Pynt, with the signature dish ‘Heritage lamb’ (Asia);Grigoris Kikis, mentored by Georgianna Hiliadaki, with the signature dish

‘The story of cod’ (South East Europe & Mediterranean);

Nelson Freitas, mentored by Filipe Carvalho, with the signature dish ‘Crispy red mullet, sea urchin and homemade black garlic’ (Iberian Countries);Mythrayie Iyer, mentored by Johnson Ebenezer, with the signature dish

‘Barter - Evolution of Indian cooking through the age of exploration

(Africa, Middle East & South Asia);

Michele Antonelli, mentored by Andrea Aprea, with the signature dish ‘Spin the cauliflower’ (Italy); Camille Saint-M’Leux, mentored by Christope Bacquié, with the signature dish ‘Charcoal Chateauneuf beef, cuttlefish fat and smoked herring eggs’ (France);

Click here to discover more about the finalists.