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Jock Zonfrillo is the winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2018. The is prize awarded to industry professionals using gastronomy as a force for change to transform society in a positive way.
The "very happy" Scottish/Australian chef from Orana restaurant in Adelaide, Australia will now be awarded 100,000 euros to go towards The Orana Foundation, a charity safeguarding the culinary tradition of the first Australians.
Speaking of his win, the President of the jury, Joan Roca, said: "For more than 15 years Jack has sought to understand and promote one of the oldest cultures of our planet."
Zonfrillo has dedicated 17 years to protecting ancestral knowledge and indigenous ingredients in Australia where he and a scientific team analyse and document their findings in an extensive database. To date they have identified 2000 foods, with the ambition of logging a total of 15,000.
A panel of top chefs, including Massimo Bottura, Dominique Crenn, Yoshihiro Narisawa and Mauro Colagreco chose the winner from a shortlist of 10 global finalists from across five continents, which included some big names like Virgilio Martinez, Matthew Orlando and Ebru Baybara Demir.
This is the third year of the award. The inaugural winner was Venezuelan chef María Fernanda Di Giacobbe, while last year’s winner was Colombian chef Leonor Espinosa, who was also crowned Latin America’s Best Female Chef 2017.
