All the latest: the October updates on finalists and upcoming competitions

UPDATE 14/05/2018: The wait is over - the winner of S.Pellegrino Young Chef has finally been crowned! Discover which rising star took home the honour of winning S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 and watch all the young chefs of the competition in the 4 live streaming episodes covering the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 Grand Finale: a true display of extraordinary passion, skill and determination of the new talents in the world of gastronomy.

UPDATE 05/02/2018: Discover the line-up of the Seven Sages, the top jury of world-class chefs who will crown the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.

UPDATE 29/11/2017: All the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Local Finals are now completed and all the 21 finalists have been selected. Find out more about the finalists, look at their signature dishes and follow the interviews with their mentor chefs.

The global talent search for the best young chef in the world is heating up as chef semi-finalists from around the world cook head to head in their respective 21 regions.

From South America to Switzerland, the hunt is on to find out who will be crowned S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.

So far, 100 young chefs in 10 regions have had the chance to pit their culinary skills against the best in their local competitions.

The 10 winners chosen so far (listed below) were all selected by unanimous vote, by some of the world’s best chefs.

The young chefs set to compete in the remaining 11 regional finals will be busy sharpening their knives, perfecting their speeches and putting the final touches to their signature dishes in preparation for their forthcoming five-hour cooking battles.

The Winners So Far

These are the names of the best young chefs chosen in each region so far:

• Falko Weiss - Germany and Austria
• Constadina Voulgaris - Mediterranean Countries
• David Wälti - Switzerland
• Elizabeth Puquio Landeo - South America
• Edoardo Fumagalli - Italy
• John Rivera - Pacific
• Antonio Buono - France
• Chanwai Poon - China
• Frederic Chastro – Benelux
• Benjamin Mauroy-Langlais - Canada

Click on each of the winner’s names to find out more about the highs of winning, as well as details of their signature dishes and designated chef mentors.

The remaining 11 regions are:

• Russia
• Japan
• Africa and Middle East
• USA
• East Europe
• South East Asia
• Scandinavia Baltics
• North East Asia
• Spain and Portugal
• Central America and Caribbean, and
• UK and Ireland.

Each of these individual competitions will take place between now and December 2017.

The Challenge Ahead

The complete list of worldwide winners will be available here at the end of December 2017. This reveal will be a nerve wracking one, as the young chefs get a first glimpse of the calibre of their competition and a sense of the enormity of the task before them.

The young chefs won’t be alone, as they prepare for the Grand Finale: this edition they have the advantage of extra months to work closely with their professional chef mentors, allowing them to hone their signature dish and build their confidence ready for the final judgement.

The Grand Finale – May 2018 

In May 2018, the 21 finalists will travel to Milan, Italy, where they will rub shoulders with some of the best chefs in the world.

Here, all 21 regional finalists will come face to face for the first time.

During an unforgettable week of intense competition, comradery and celebration these young chefs will experience life changing moments in the quest for the title.

Each will have the unmissable opportunity to present their signature dishes for tasting to a panel of some of the world’s most esteemed chefs, known as the Seven Sages.

Following a gruelling selection process only one young chef will walk away victorius, in the footsteps of Mark Moriarty and Mitch Lienhard, as S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018.

Stay tuned to find out all the results and learn more about the top chef mentors in our individual interviews and updates. 

Find all the latest news here.