Regional Finalists 2022-23

Nowadays, Bali is facing a massive shift in landscape and lifestyle due to mass tourism. My biggest concern is the future of our children. What is our legacy? What is my responsibility as a chef for future generations? I want to take my part in preserving our Balinese heritage, our ingredients, our local farmers, our skills, and show that mixing tradition and modernity is possible. This is why I called my dish " Go Local or Go Home ".

Through the San Pelegrino competition, I would like to make new Korean dish that is interesting and delicious to people in a fun way with familiar ingredients.

Furthermore, I would like to develop a recipe that can reduce food waste that affects environmental pollution.

Through this dish, I want to convey the wonderful ingredients and food culture of Japan.
We also thought about garnishing the dish with shiso leaves and myoga, which are commonly used in Japan, and adding the aroma of sea bream skin chips and grilled green onions so that the dish would not become boring in terms of texture and flavor.
We also believe that the soup's consistency can be made easier to mix with rice and sea bream by using rice starch or by adding a little density to the soup.

The Shepherd offers his healthiest lambs, either for feasts or as a sacrificial meal every year by monotheists alike, in suit of Abraham's sacrifice to god. It is tradition to use a healthy lamb that is at least a year old. I wanted to honour this abiding tradition by encompassing the subtle yet rich flavours of the animal, complimented with locally foraged seasonal vegetables. This is an exploration of a harmonious dance of textures, temperatures, and flavours.

This dish is an ode to a traditional Québécois meal: the rotisserie chicken. Traditionally, the chicken is served with gravy, a side of creamy or traditional vinegary coleslaw, french fries, and a pain brioche.

A fragment of Quebec’s culinary culture, the history of the rotisserie chicken is also that of French Canadians. But it is also the story of my father, Abdelaziz, who was exposed to ceaseless systemic racism in the labour market and driven, by the ensuing precarity, to deliver the infamous “chef’s special” through long nights. I chose this dish in honour of the Québécois culture, but by choosing the silky chicken, a breed of hen whose black skin and beauty seldom make it a choice for cooking, I want to raise questions around speciesism and racism through my cooking.

I prepare this dish through a mixture of traditions bringing the Québécois recipe together with my Moroccan background to create a unique expression of this rotisserie meal. By selecting as many regional products as possible, I also give thanks to this welcoming land that is Québec and the riches it has to offer. These include some foods that were long used by the Indigenous People of this unceded Atikamekw territory (Nitaskinan) but forgotten in our modern cuisine. These complex and distinctive flavors here find their expression in the traditional Québécois dish.

I want to pay tribute to our forests and also to our ancestors who lived there using ancestral cooking methods such as crust baking and banique bread. I also want to bring back memories and make you nostalgic with the smell of dead leaves when you go mushroom picking. The mushrooms will also be showcased, as will some of the trees that can be found there. I really want to transport the judges to a forest in the middle of autumn.

I wish to inspire people to reconnect with their neighborhood. Regionality is not just practiced, it is lived! We need to encourage kids to engage in gastronomy. Let's show the next generation the joy of serving guests dishes made from locally-sourced ingredients, fostering connections with friends in the local farming community. Hopefully, kids today, through my cooking, will discover that, as my grandma always says: 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' Let's create paths worth taking.

I would like to show that we can eat less meat and fish and eat more vegan or vegetarian.
You can get so many nice flavours and combinations that we can all eat less animals but still get the feeling to have eaten something special

This Dish is my Handwriting, it is all the experiences I collected over the years in every kitchen I worked, starting from what my mother cooked for me when I was a child. My Grandma created many dishes with offals, and that was the inspiration for my ragout. I Love to make some old traditional dishes in a new modern way with a touch of Asian style.

I would like to express my technique and all the skills I have learnt. I've travelled a lot but I'm still connected to Brittany, my home region, even though I've left. I'm very attached to it. Now that I've settled in the Ardèche, my dish represents both, the saltiness of Brittany and the technique of Royans raviole. I'd like to show you that I can present something that is extremely simple at first glance, even though all the fillings in it are complex.

As am from a small island called Mauritius surrounded by the Indian ocean, known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs so we consumed more seafood. So by selecting this as my signature dish I am reviving my childhood because I spent most of my early age on the coast fishing and my passion for seafood as I love the smell of the bitter and salty sea water.As the idea of this plate base on sea, in each bite of this dish or side dish you will find different taste sea.

I wanted to challenge myself to make a gourmet dish but also entirely vegetable and 0 waste. Everyone must realize that a beetroot does not necessarily taste like earth, that a vegetable dish is not a poor and indulgent dish. All the vegetables and herbs that we know can be worked in so many ways... I suggest you one.

The dish idea combines Spain and Italy's linguistic and cultural ties, rich in shared elements I value. I'll merge Spanish stewed tongue with Italian cold tongue, reflecting my veggie passion. Ingredients like salsify, watercress, wild plants, and roots will be preserved, enhancing the dish and fostering a connection with nature.

From head to toe. That's what came to my mind when I decided that my dish should be mainly pork. Pork is a product that shows us that everything can be used and that nothing should be wasted. At the same time, most pork-based preparations require long cooking times and the patience that goes with it. For me, making the most of time and time are the indisputable pillars of any kitchen, and that is where this dish I am presenting has come from.

The origin of the techniques and flavours of this dish come from the city where my surname comes from, from an emblematic family who to this day represent historical flavours and maintain their roots, and above all from the great use that this region has made for centuries of the natural resources of its geography, such as rivers and countryside, where they ate from their own vegetable garden. This is a tribute to them.

The recipe I propose represents my path: past, present and future.The eel is the most convivial ingredient of my homeland, cooked by a grandmother who thanks to it was able to gather everyone around a table. present in my Sardinia, worked and structured manages to give new variations. The bittersweet represents my present, the combinations, the olfactory references and above all intrigue with the taste, are the pillars of my current cuisine.

I wanted to find a point that connects my cooking with the place where I learn and found my passion for it, mostly french, japanese and italian. I am naturally curious, and I love to create association with anything, connecting ingredients that are not supposed to belong together is magic to me. I love the contrast of sea - earth dish, swimming into the sea is like a reset button for me, I have a big love for it. I’m completely linked with the earth, I’m grateful for every product that I have the chance to work with.

This dish revolves around the use of the main part of the ingredients and those of “ scrap “ , nothing is thrown away, rather at the end of each preparation what’s left is used as a base for another recipe. This is to raise consciousness of the Chef on food waste and consequently on the human resources used for the production of raw ingredients.

Through this dish I would like to show the importance of women as bearers of gastronomic tradition. The clay work of the potters, through which this dish was created and inspired. Emphasizing that broths and soups are considered an ancestral food that is part of the primordial baggage of the history of food, forming a perfect symbiosis that becomes food for the body and connects it with the soul.

A short time ago there was an oil spill on the coast of Peru, it made me realize the consequences of spills, they generate a tremendous environmental impact, but I think the wisdom of nature is greater than mine, and its benefits even more so, for this reason I want to use seaweed and mushrooms in my dish. My dish generates awareness but also sustainability, using a product that is not used to supplant others and obtain benefits for human health, for me that's one way to make sustainable cooking.

“Mackerel, plantain and coconut” refers to the day to day life of people living in humble seaside towns in Costa Rica, it highlights the value of these undervalued products and a perspective on a simpler way of living where waste is not an option.In these areas zero waste is not a trend but a viable way to feed an entire family. And instead of seeing it as something that limits it can be a source of inspiration for creating unique preparations and finding ways to enhance their flavour.

This dish represents my fond memories and deep affection for the Jiangnan region.The fresh bamboo shoots on the mountains in spring, lotus leaves covers the ponds in summer, golden fields in autumn, and the aroma of cured meats in every courtyard in winter. These are my cherished memories, and I want to share this warmth and beauty through my food.

Nature is almighty, and ecological systems require balance, this symbiosis the only way to survive, so I had the inspiration to use “Coexistence” as my theme.

This inspiration stemmed from the traditional Chinese character “Xian” (meaning freshness, which is made up of the Chinese character for “fish” and the Chinese character for “lamb” ).
I use a commonly found but not ordinary big head carp fish head from the freezing regions of the Northeast. Due to the cold weather, the big head carp is fatty and has a wonderful texture. The fish head is the best part and rich in collagen, it is the soul of the produce. This I combined with the delicacy of the grasslands, the tender lamb, and the traditional fried snack “You Dun Zi”; onion crisp, caviar, asparagus lettuce, and powdered dill adds texture and flavor.
Where it matters, ingredients that reflect their geographical and natural habitat are used and through my understanding, creativity, innovation and using each ingredients to its fullest.

 

The idea of the dish is from my hometown, Xinjiang, which is famous for its tasty lamb. The sheep live in the mountains where the sea-buckthorn and pleurotus grow. To bring the scenery of my hometown, I put them together in the plate. Besides, I also want to introduce the diet and cooking culture to more people in the world. We hardly waste any part of an animal as a respect of the nature, and cook each part separately to make the best use of it. Thrift and sustainability are notably important in this age, I wish I could arouse more attention on them.

I want to send the message that we really must make sure that the local food production survives in the future. In Norway, we are losing more and more of the producers because people don’t buy their vegetables/products. I want to show how amazing vegetables can be, just cooked the right way and that you can order a vegetarian dish in a restaurant, and still feel full. I’m doing this using some traditional cooking methods in a more modern and vegetarian way and only using Local products.

The idea behind the dish is to connect the Bulgarian and Nordic cuisine through common ingredients and procedures. The lamb is common for Bulgaria in Easter and this is written deep into the culture. The piece is either cooked on open fire or braised for long hours, and this is why I use both techniques to represent the original way of cooking lamb, from back in the days. The garnishes representing modern way salad, done by my grandmother, as well as flavorful, creamy fricassee served back home.

This dish focuses on solder fish which is one of the largest food sources for many fish species in the ocean. also that is hardly used in our gastronomic. more focused on Nordic ingredients and history with a mix of classic and modern cooking techniques.

In New Zealand we have a large number of introduced pests like wild deer that damage our native flora and fauna. By using wild venison we can create an economy for conservation by giving a financial incentive for the pest control. Hunters can sell the meat and chefs can utilise a delicious clean natural protein in the kitchen. I want to show a way to use the whole animal by ulatising the offal & bones in an approachable way for customers. The more we sell creates more money for conservation.

This salad is very popular Colombian salad on the Atlantic coast in and we find it with the name clown salad, alluding its name to the bright colors when we mix all the vegetables.
I want to show to the world Colombian’s cousin, and how we integrate the different texture, flavours, colours and techniques from our rich cultural heritage, presenting a popular salad in a sophisticate way.

The main purpose of this dish is to change the misconception that exists in some beef offal's, in this case "sweetbread", considered an exquisite treat in my country, Argentina, however not so pleasant in other cultures. Through childhood flavors I aim to encourage people to experience something different by creating a beautiful dish with colors that pique curiosity to try. And encourage sustainability by utilizing part of the cow that are often considered waste as sweetbread and tendons.

I Choose this plate because I grew up in a small town next to the sea and the area is rich in fish. I remember that every week I saw my grandmother cook this type of fish with the most of ingredients are the same and I put my signature with my techniques to present you my childhood memories

Gastronomy and poetry are some of the most beautiful expressions that human beings have developed to communicate. Through creativity and innovation, they contribute to questioning in an ever-renewed way how we use culture, and our ways of perceiving and interpreting reality. I have valued this union through the concept of Haiku, poems of 3 verses that precisely talk about everyday life and nature, in a specific place and time.

This dish stems from the global need to change the fine dining concept. I believe that the process of dining in a restaurant should be more educational, interestin and enjoyable for guests, with the help of other arts such as theatrical. With this dish, I will conjure up a performance about Sava Savanović, the first Serbian vampire, and country i came from, with the fact that in dish food will play the main role, where each segment of the dish will tell its own part of the story in this play.

This is the dish that I first wrote down 4 years ago when I was planning to do my first ever pop up, which unfortunatelly for one reason on another I never got round to do. Now revisiting it with different techniques that I've learned along the way I'd hope to be able to present to you a well balanced and complete plate. I chose the flovours of celeriac and apple becuase I think the combination is delicious. I'd like to express how delicious vegetables can be.

I want to showcase everything i have learnt as a chef so far. I think doing a classical dish like this is unique and modern and really shows how different styles and cuisines have evolved. This really expresses how far food has come and how far i have come.

As a Korean chef in London, this dish reflects my identity. In this diverse city, culinary boundaries dissolve, blending local UK ingredients with staples from my homeland. Signature ingredients like kimchi, Korean miso paste, Jeju bracken, and Makgeolli create a fusion that's both familiar and innovative. This dish also showcases the seafood expertise I've developed as a fish chef. From precise techniques to selected marinades, every element shows my dedication and passion for seafood cuisine.

Food conscience and sustainability are more prevalent in our lives than ever before.
It is time to take action and look for more sustainable solutions.
My dish is a representation of sustainable ingredients, rich in nutrients, with a low water and carbon footprint, that may improve ocean water quality, rebuild coastal ecosystems, alleviate hunger and contribute to environmental revival at a low cost through ethical farming on a global scale.

My dish is a homage to my mom. Being an immigrant, my mom has faced a lot of obstacles with my grandma (mee-maw), but the first time they were able to bond was through growing potatoes of all things. Now, every couple of potatoes are filled with the same excitement as that day she shared digging them up with my mee-maw. This dish is a portrayal of my mom’s garden with a mix of Filipino and American flavors, with hints of the chickens that try to pluck her harvest before fruition.

Growing up in Chile, I’ve always appreciated the sea. With over 6,000 kilometers of coastline, Chile introduced me to the power of fresh fish and seaweed. Working in fine-dining restaurants in Paris and New York, I’ve learned that the fish industry also leaves an abundance of food waste. With this dish, I am using almost every element of my favorite fish: the Shima-aji. I’d like to inspire people to begin a new relationship with food to appreciate all that a fish has to offer.

With this dish, I want to express the use of poor and reusable raw materials, I have used tripe which is a popular product par excellence, bitter herbs have a very low environmental impact, and roots have always been the sustenance food of the poor.

Each ingredient of the earth and each part of an animal must be respected and valued, and this is only possible by putting a lot of love into it. I have sought here to pay tribute to them, putting meat, vegetables and the less noble part on the same footing. By sublimating our cuisine, I think we can honor nature, the producers and let people know that it is possible to consume in a fairer way with less waste.

This dish represents the Italian immigration in Belgium in the 20th century, for working in the coal mines. My family is from this history. The carbonnade is Belgium, the raviolis is Italy, and the vegetable charcoal the raison of this immigration. I want to cook the pigeon “des Collines”, because it’s an exceptional product but also, it reduces the carbon foothprint instead of using beef.