Brazil was represented with two restaurants among the 50 best in the world, in the 50 Best of 2022 awards: Casa do Porco, in São Paulo, was in 7th position, and Oteque, in Rio de Janeiro, which entered the list for the first time. list, at 47th.
The São Paulo restaurant specializing in pork and located in the city center was the only Brazilian on last year’s list, reaching the 17th position.
“For Brazil, it is very important to have more representatives on the list. We have a very rich gastronomy that the world needs to know”, says Jefferson Rueda, from A Casa do Porco.
Once again, a Nordic restaurant reaches the top of the world gastronomy list, which has become the most influential award in the sector.
Following in the footsteps of Noma, in Copenhagen, winner last year, the also Danish Geranium was elected the best restaurant in the world this Monday (18), at an awards ceremony held in London.
With three Michelin stars and a perfectly executed cuisine based on Scandinavian products, the house is led by chef Rasmus Kofoed and had been in second place on last year’s list.
The focus is on vegetables, and since 2021, Kofoed has removed all meat from the menu, with a few exceptions for fish and seafood. Winner of a gold medal at the Bocuse d’Or (the biggest culinary competition in the world), its dishes have impeccable aesthetics.
The restaurant still has the peculiarity of having a view of the official stadium of the Danish football team. The tasting menu costs around R$2,300 (without alcoholic beverages).
Other Brazilian restaurants (Maní, Lasai, Evvai and DOM) had already been announced last week as part of an expanded list that is made by the organization of the 50 Best, between positions 51-100. The closest Brazil has ever come to first place was in 2017, when Alex Atala’s DOM reached fourth place.
Geranium’s victory is proof that the Nordic influence is still strong in the global gastronomy scene. Three of the 50 restaurants on the list are in the area.
Since Noma ascended to the pantheon of the world’s best restaurants more than a decade ago — reaching the top five times — attention has grown towards cuisine made in countries such as Sweden, Finland and Norway, as well as Denmark, which has become a popular gastronomic destination.
The list revealed this year in London (city chosen in February, after the organization gave up holding the ceremony in Moscow), also shows how the pandemic has affected the geopolitics of restaurants in the world.
Prevented from traveling, the 1,080 jurors that make up the global panel were more restricted to their regions, which was evidenced by the presence (and the rise) of ten new restaurants among the 50 on the list.
This is also a reflection of the first list of the 50 Best for the Middle East and North Africa, launched this year, as a strategy for the organization to expand its operations in the world, after launching specific lists for Asia and Latin America in 2013.
Celebrating 20 years since its first edition in 2001, the 50 Best reaches adulthood as the award that helped change the world’s gastronomy landscape, by allowing judges to vote for any restaurant they wanted.
Voters choose 10 establishments in order of preference that they have visited around the world. The only requirement is that at least three of them are from outside the area/continent they are representing and that they confirm the dates they have been to the restaurants.
This last rule, by the way, was incorporated more recently, since the list came to be criticized by many for the possibility of bias and interest between voters and chefs and their restaurants.
Another newly adopted rule is that those who reach the top of the list are automatically transferred to the Best of The Best category, and therefore can no longer compete for first place.
Controversial, the award remains the most discussed in the sector, defended by many as the “Oscar of gastronomy” for its influence and reach among cooks and personalities, in addition to propagating a glamorized image of restaurants.
In the London edition, chefs from all over the world (from Argentina to Japan) walked the red carpet and the presentation ceremony was led by Hollywood actor Stanley Tucci (from “The Devil Wears Prada”), the first time a celebrity acts as a master. of ceremony.
New categories were also announced, in an attempt to bring news to each edition, such as Sustainable Restaurant, which awarded the Aponiente restaurant, by Spanish chef Ángel León, and Best Sommelier, which recognized the work of Spanish Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca).
Among the other individual awards granted by the 50 Best, the restaurant AM par Alexandre Mazia (France) was chosen in the One to Watch category (To Keep an Eye and the Best Confection went to Rene Frank, from CODA, in Berlin. The Best Chef of the This year’s world is Colombian cook Leo Espinosa.
The Colombian Leonor Espinosa was elected the best female chef in the world and the Kenyan Walita Njiru was awarded the Icon award for the food education work she does with children in her country.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
