The winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23 US regional final has been announced.
Chef Daniel Garwood won the regional final with his signature dish 'Aged Duck and Persimmon in Tak Cheongju with Banchan Through the Eyes of a Traveller', at the event in New York on 24 and 25 October.
Describing his dish and the philosophy behind it, he said: “This dish is a story and reflection of my life as a chef. Typically, banchan (Korean side dish) is a variety of small dishes accompanying a main dish, generally reflecting the area they come from. Each banchan will reflect a moment in my life through places that I have travelled, as well as beliefs found along the way, whilst maintaining my rules and ethics of clean and fair food that’s locally sourced in a sustainable way.”
Other awards were given out at the event, including the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award, which was awarded to Michael Park for his dish, 'The Textures of Korea – Uniting North & South'.
“The pairings of squid and date, and oyster tofu and bone expresses a yearning for a unified Korea,” said Park. “My father's family was forced from their home north of the 38th parallel to escape invading communist forces during the war. They arrived in the southern port city of Busan as strangers in their own land. This dish aims to harmonise the flavours of our ancestral home in the north of Korea with the textures and ingredients of the south in efforts to tell our family's story and chart our migration.”
The S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award went to Jack Stewart for his dish, 'Leek and Quail Yolk Ravioli'. Meanwhile, the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award, as voted for by FDL’s readers, was awarded to Laura Arrojo for her dish, 'Socarrat with Fish Galleys and Royal Sea Cucumber'.
The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition event was marked also by the Brain Food forum, a discussion platform moderated by Andrew Friedman, with jurors Adrienne Cheatham, Ignacio Mattos, Nina Compton, Philip Tessier and Sean Brock,and chef Ayesha Nurdjajaall discussing the important issues facing young chefs in the industry today.
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