Italy

Antonia KLUGMANN

Fifteen years ago Antonia Klugmann left her studies of Law at the University of Milan, to go back to her native region in order to try to become a cook. After five years of apprentice, she opened her first restaurant in 2006 close to Udine, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region. In 2010 she bought together

Slovenia

Ana ROŠ

‎In Kobarid, a small village in Slovenia close to the border with Italy, Ana Roš runs the Hiša Franko restaurant together with her husband and sommelier Valter Kramar. Entirely self-taught, her has developed an eclectic cooking style, combining an avant-garde approach with local and seasonal ingredients from her home country.  She was recently recognised, among

Catalunya

Fina PUIGDEVALL

Since May 1990 Fina Puigdevall has been managing the Restaurant “Les Cols” in Olot, her own birthplace. The culinary proposals which this restaurant offer are rooted in the land and the landscape surrounding it. For this reason Puigdevall has initiated a process of research and recuperation from the area’s traditional vegetable growing. She works with

Ireland

Dr. Lynn Gilmore

Dr Lynn Gilmore is a marine biologist working with the seafood industry in Northern Ireland. Her role is varied working with all sectors of the industry from fishermen, processors and aquaculture producers to fishmongers, Fish and Chip shops and seafood restaurants for a sustainable, profitable and socially responsible future. A keen cook, who likes to

United Nations

Dr. Cristina FRANCHINI

Cristina Franchini holds a law degree and a PHD in international law. She started working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2007, as a legal officer, at the beginning in the area of arrivals by sea and reception of asylum seekers and then, for many years, in the Italian procedure for

Denmark

Dr. Afton HALLORAN

Dr. Afton Halloran is a Canadian researcher at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen. She is a part of the GREEiNSECT research group (www.greeinsect.ku.dk), a group of public and private institutions investigating how insects can be utilized as a source of food and animal feed in Kenya.  Her research focuses on

USA

Dominique CRENN

Dominique Crenn transforms memories into food in her poetic, modernist and imaginative restaurant, Atelier Crenn, which was the first restaurant with a female head chef to be awarded with two Michelin stars in the USA. She lectures widely, including at Harvard, and attends many conferences all over the world. Dominique Crenn received the “2015 Augie

Turkey

Mehmet GÜRS

Mehmet Gürs, chef and partner of 19 successful restaurants and cafés including the unique “Mikla”, one of the world’s 100 best restaurants by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”. He is credited by many to be the one “kicking off the contemporary restaurant scene in Istanbul” when he returned from the US to start his first

South Africa

Margot Janse

Dutch born and self-taught chef Margot Janse moved to Zimbabwe in 1989. She started working in the kitchen of a well-known Johannesburg restaurant in 1992,  pursuing her dream of becoming a chef. Margot has been the Executive Chef at the award winning, “Le Quartier Français” Hotel and “The Tasting Room” Restaurant in Franschhoek, South Africa

USA

Kimberly JUNG

Kim is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rumi Spice, a for-profit social enterprise importing saffron from Afghan farmers. By giving farmers access to markets and an alternative to growing opium, Rumi Spice hopes to lay a long-term foundation for peace in Afghanistan. Before cofounding Rumi, Kim served as a U.S. Army Engineer Officer stationed in

Canada

Joshna Maharaj

Joshna Maharaj is a busy chef with big ideas about good food!  Joshna’s strong social justice and sustainability ethics are rooted in her time at The Stop, a community food centre where she built innovative and delicious community food programs. Recently, Joshna has been working with institutions in Toronto building new models for institutional food

Joanna Savill

Joanna Savill is a longtime journalist and events director who specialises in food, travel and gastronomy. She has written for most major food publications in Australia, edited the country’s most prestigious restaurant guide and presented a long-running TV series on Australia’s many diverse food cultures, farmers and artisan producers. She is widely known for her

Catalunya

Joan ROCA

He was just 9 years old when he decided to put on a cooking coat and help his mother in the family traditional restaurant and house. Nowadays he runs with own restaurant project along with his two brothers, Josep –sommelier- and Jordi – pastry chef. At El Celler de Can Roca, the authentic creative triangle formed by

Catalunya

Sara PEREZ

In 1996, after finishing her degree in Biology, Sara Pérez decided to return to the wine region of Priorat as a winemaker.  There, under her father’s guidance, she took part in that year’s harvest and started the adventure in the “Cims de Porrera” winery.  Since then not only she has established herself in the Priorat

Brazil

Samantha AQUIM

For Samantha Aquim extraordinary creations are only born out of passion and tenacious work. Youngest of an award winning Brazilian catering family, Samantha is graduated originally in psychology assuming the head chef position at the family business after studying and training at the prestigious Ecole Lenôtre in Paris. In 2009, Samantha started an endless and

Brazil

Roberta Sudbrack

Sudbrack’s determination to make haute-cuisine with simple and local ingredients made dining at her former restaurant “Roberta Sudbrack” (Rio de Janeiro) one of the best experiences Brazil. Her keyword is respect and her cuisine has only 3 ingredients: hands, fire and brains. That says it all. Roberta was the first chef cooking at Brazil’s presidential

UK

Roberta SIAO & Niki KOPCKE

Nikandre Kopcke Born in Berlin and raised in New York City, Nikandre uses food to practice feminism. She is a proud daughter of the Greek diaspora, raised and fed by women whose strength, resilience, and glorious cooking ignited her passions for food and gender equality. Nikandre is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and

Catalunya

Nani MORE

Nani Moré transformed the world of children’s diet with a pioneer project in Spain taking place at “Guarderia El Rial” (El Rial Pre-school). The project created a culinary concept that is economically competitive and socially responsible, boosting the local economy and increasing the consumption of fresh seasonal food among children. The project l’Acte alimentari (The Alimentary Act) was