Worldchefs Congress Brings Culinary Experts to Thessaloniki

This year’s Worldchefs Congress & Expo saw 990 internationally renowned master chefs, 34 speakers, 40 competitors and 97 promising professionals from 86 countries bring the best culinary practices to Thessaloniki’s Met Hotel last month.

The biennial event, organized for 86 years in over 34 cities across the world, brings culinary professionals together to showcase their country’s cuisine, culture and traditions and promote tourism through pre- and post-event tours. The congress includes educational programs, competitions, a trade show and numerous culinary events and activities.

“Large international events are important for our country and especially the Worldchefs Congress, not only because of the large participation, but also because through this audience we can promote our gastronomy, our exports and our culture,” said Valentini Amarantidou, representing the event’s organizers, Artion Conferences & Events.

Winners of this year’s Global Chefs Challenge was Eero Vottonen from Finland; Sweden’s Robert Sandberg won the Young Chefs Challenge; Narae Kim from South Korea won the Global Pastry Chefs Challenge.

Meanwhile, Thomas Gugler was elected president of Worldchefs, and St Petersburg, Russia, was elected to host the Worldchefs Congress & Expo in 2020.

The Worldchefs Congress & Expo was supported by the Region of Central Macedonia and the Hellenic Chef’s Association and held under the auspices of the Thessaloniki Municipality.

The World Association of Chefs’ Societies, or Worldchefs, is a global network of chefs associations first founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris.

The next Worldchefs Congress will be hosted in 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.