Regional Finalists: S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23

S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23 is excited to announce the list of young chef finalists, hand-picked to compete in their respective regional finals around the world.

Check below to see if you, your colleague, friend, peer or mentor has been shortlisted to take part in the fifth edition of the global talent search to find the best young chef in the world. Congratulations to all of those who have made it through to the regional heats.

For each region, ten young chefs have made it through a rigorous selection process by ALMA culinary school and will proceed to the next level based on their outstanding signature dishes.

Their next challenge will be stepping up to the plate in front of a local jury, made up of the most talented professionals in that part of the world, and facing off against the other best young chefs in the region.

Those young chefs that manage to slice, boil, taste and plate their best signature dish will be selected to represent their regions at the Grand Finale, where they will cook to become crowned the winner of S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23 and impress a Grand Jury of some of the world's most exciting names in gastronomy.

Latin America & Caribbean finalists

Jorge Esteban Sanchez, Mexico.
Erick Alfredo Bautista Chacon, Mexico.
Armando Bramwell, Panama.
Moris Moreno, Colombia.
Mateo Portilla, Colombia.
Xchel González, Mexico.
Diego Fernandino, Chile.
Andrea Pinzòn Banfield, Panama.
Segundo Panduro Ruiz, Peru
Maria Guadalupe Elizeche Guerreros, Paraguay.
Aranxa Troestch, Panama.
Paulette Marie Tejada Then, Dominican Republic.
Ralf Zuñiga Accostupa, Peru.
Cristina Hanhausen, Mexico.
Tabatha Bertoni, Brazil.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

West Europe finalists

Andrea Vailati, Switzerland.
Valerio Borriero, Belgium.
Lorenzo Di Miceli , Belgium.
Raul Garcia, Switzerland.
Michael Angelo Van Liere, Belgium.
Damien Delacoste, Switzerland.
Diego Sgarbossa, Switzerland.
Gianmarco Pallotta, Switzerland. 
Egbert Meseure, Belgium. 
Mirjam Schwarz, Switzerland. 

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Central Europe finalists

Anton Lebersorger, Germany.
Saskia Vorhemus, Germany.
Thomas Beiglboeck , Germany.
Sebastian Braun, Germany.
Eva Maria Egorova, Germany.
Stefan Barca, Germany.
Mary Anne Peñaloza Villafuerte, Germany.
Fabian Schröter, Germany.
Marcel Förster, Germany.
Randy de Jong, Germany.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Pacific finalists

Abhishek Thorat, Australia.
Tatsuya Fujii, Australia.
Alexis Belmas, Australia. 
Diego Huerta, Australia. 
Robin Wagner, Australia. 
Robert Fairs, New Zeland.
Simon Ming, Australia.
Jackson Mehlhopt, New Zeland.
Srishti Godbole, Australia.
Leidy Carolina Maldonado Ramirez, Australia.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Canada finalists

Samy Benabed, Canada.
Timothy James Bleau, Canada. 
Ben Miller, Canada.
Pierre Olivier Pelletier, Canada. 
Houfeng Deng, Canada. 
Ben Thompson, Canada. 
Harpreet  Kahllon, Canada.
Carmen Holtby, Canada.
Dahyun Choi, Canada.
Kali Fawcett, Canada.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

UK finalists

Harry Van Lierop, UK. 
Ediz Niyazi Engin, UK. 
Aaron Blais, UK 
Kristin Reagon, UK. 
Joshua Wilde, UK.  
Marcus Clayton, UK 
Swann Auffray, UK. 
Imogen Parrish, UK  
Yogesh Yadav, UK. 
Chris Wang, UK.  

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

North Europe finalists

Jet Loos, Norway.
Sebastian Garcia Jimenez, Faroe Islands.
Augustinas Bimbiris, Lithuanian.
Conor Halpenny, Ireland.
Magnus Brandenburg Carlsen, Denmark.
Nils Flatmark, Norway.
Niko Tähti, Finland.
Eddie Meijboom, Netherlands.
Juan Ruiz, Sweden. 
Vasyl Fysiuk, Ukraine.
Frank Imperial, Ireland.
Lauma Jurkjane, Ireland.
Liliana Haaland, Norway.
Astrid Wahlen, Sweden.
Jonita Šeščilaitė, Lithuania.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Mainland China finalists

Yunze Zheng Yi Zhang, China. 
Shixin Luo, China.
Bin Shu Zhao, China.
Yunze Zheng, China. 
Feng Wei Xie, China. 
Jin Wang, China. 
Di Cui, China. 
Min Zhou, China.
He-Sen (Jason) Liu, China.
Li Li Zhong, China.  

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Iberian finalists

Artur Gomes, Portugal.
David Padilla Ferrer, Spain.
Andrés Rengel Herrero, Spain.
Danitza Alpaca Salinas, Spain.
Francesco Sansalone, Spain.
Andrè Cameirão, Portugal.
Adriana Coromoto Allepuz Pelegrina, Spain.
Nelson Freitas, Portugal.
Carla Ribé, Spain.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

France finalists

Luca Visentin, France.
William Ezzedine, France. 
Camile Saint-M'Leux, France.
Benjamin Vakanas, France. 
Clément Vergeat, France.
Kitano Yurika, France.
François Vermeere-Merlen, France. 
Yunkyung CHO, France.
Mohammad Ramputh, France.
Aurélien Duvacher, France.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

Italy finalists

Michele Antonelli, Italy.
Marco Apicella, Italy. 
Danilo Vella, Italy.
Paolo Anzil, Italy.
Katherine Rios, Italy.
Davide Modesti, Italy. 
Nicholas Reina, Italy.
Silvia Mocco, Italy.
Maria Chiara Brannetti, Italy.
Andrea Borroni, Italy.

Learn more about the young chefs and jurors.

South-East Europe finalists

Gregory Kikis, Greece.
Ivan Tartaro, Croatia.
Žiga Koprivc, Slovenia. 
Emanuel Mocan, Romania.
Mojmir Marko Šiftar, Slovenia.
Paweł Szulżycki, Poland.
Dominik Kovács, Hungary.
Letizia Vella, Malta.
Maria Zoga, Greece.
Olga Feferkuchen, Israel.

Learn more about young chefs and jurors.

Africa, Middle East & South Asia finalists

Aurelien Durand, United Arab Emirates. 
Zanté Neethling, South Africa.
Tiisetso Matela, South Africa.
Deepak Jakhar, India.
Mythrayie Iyer, India.
Aengus Moloney, South Africa.
Simone Pino, United Arab Emirates.
Luis Angel Huamani Huerta, Qatar.
Muhammad Afif  Adnanta Nasution, Bahrain.
Tiaan Snyman, South Africa.
Kareem Atef, Egypt.
Shehab Medhat, Egypt.
Ellah Maepa, South Africa.
Nobulali Vimba, South Africa.
Bianca Strydom, South Africa.

Learn more about young chefs and jurors.

US finalists

Daniel Garwood, United States - New York.
Prosenjit Biswas, United States - Colorado.
Dimosthenis Efthymiou, United States - New York
Rachel Bindel, United States - District of Columbia.
Huy Hoang, United States - Florida.
Laura Arrojo, United States - Florida.
Michael Park, United States - New York. 
Samuel Mumford, United States - California.
Jack Stewart, United States - Montana.
Vitor Mendes, United States - New York.

Learn more about young chefs and jurors.

Asia finalists

Xu Yu Chan, Singapore.
Yu Chuan Cheng, Taiwan.
Hyojeong Kim, Korea.
Yi-Chung Chiu, Taiwan.
Ian Goh, Singapore.
Jiwoo Lee, Korea.
William Yee, Singapore.
Shintaro Ohiwa, Japan.
Aaron Shiu, Philippines.
Chudapa Chansaming, Thailand.

Learn more about young chefs and jurors.