The Basque Culinary World Prize is an annual global award co-founded by the

Basque Government The Basque Government ( eu, Eusko Jaurlaritza, es, Gobierno Vasco) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the ''Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque P ...

and the Basque Culinary Center in 2016. A prize of €100,000 is granted to a chef whose work has a wider socio-economic benefit. The winner is to use the prize to devote to a project of their choice that demonstrates the wider role of

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

in society. The award is open to anyone with a professional background in cooking– regardless of their culinary culture or nationality– and whose work has made an impact in the fields such as innovation, technology, education, the environment, health, the food industry and social and economic development.

History

The prize was co-founded by the Basque Government under the Euskadi-

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

Strategy and

Basque Culinary Center The Basque Culinary Center, based in San Sebastián, in the Basque region of Spain, is a culinary foundation created in 2009 by Mondragon University and a group of prominent Basque chefs as a training, research and innovation project, aimed at dev ...

(BCC), a higher education institution entirely dedicated to developing the economic and social potential of gastronomy.

Previous winners

The first ''Basque Culinary World Prize'' was awarded in 2016 to María Fernanda Di Giacobbe from Venezuela, for her Cacao de Origen initiative – a network involving education, entrepreneurship, research and development around cocoa as a source of identity, culture and economic wealth in Venezuela. Through this network, the chef brought opportunities to financially vulnerable women, building capacities and empowering them; allowing them to become micro-entrepreneurs in the chocolate industry. In 2017, the prize was awarded to Colombian chef

Leonor Espinosa Leonor Espinosa De La Ossa, also known by her nickname 'Leo', is a Colombian chef whose Bogotá restaurant, ''Leo Cocina y Cava'', featuring a fusion of traditional and modern Colombian cuisine, first brought her to international attention when it ...

, for her Funleo project – a foundation which helps indigenous and

afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians or African-Colombians ( es, afrocolombianos, links=no) are Colombians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent (Blacks, Mulattoes, Pardos, and Zambos). History Africans were enslaved in the early 16th Century in Colombi ...

communities to identify, defend, and promote gastronomic traditions as a way of driving social and economic change. The 2018 prize was awarded to Scottish-Australian chef

Jock Zonfrillo Barry "Jock" Zonfrillo (4 August 1976 – 30 April 2023) was a Scottish chef, television presenter and restaurateur. He was the founder of the Orana Foundation and a judge on '' MasterChef Australia''. Early life Zonfrillo was born in Glasgo ...

, for his work in connecting indigenous communities in Australia to the rest of society by creating a market for their culinary heritage. His Orana Foundation works to preserve the sophisticated cooking knowledge and practice of

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

and promote the significance of these practices to a wider Australian audience. The most recent prize, in 2019, was awarded to US chef Anthony Myint, who runs the Zero Foodprint and Perennial Farming Initiative. The ventures explore the cross-section between restaurants and the environment, by advising food businesses on viable options to reduce their

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

, and even go carbon neutral. He has worked with the State of California on the Restore California programme, which arms suppliers and consumers with transparent information on the environmental footprint of restaurants so they can make better-informed decisions. All restaurants on the list can either be carbon neutral or support local farmers to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

References

{{authority control Food and drink awards Awards established in 2016 2016 establishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Basque cuisine