Brazilian chef Ana Flavia Batista Graciolli drew on corn, family gatherings and her grandmother’s cooking to create the dish that earned her a place in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition global final. On September 29 in Panama City, she became the first regional winner of the 2026–27 edition for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Her dish, Grandma’s Corn, examines corn as both a staple and a symbol of tradition. The recipe references the corn festivals of her childhood and the influence of her grandmother in shaping those memories.
“Corn has a deep emotional meaning in my childhood,” Graciolli said after receiving the award, describing the family memories behind her creation. She will now carry that story to the competition’s Grand Finale in Milan in 2027, representing Brazil and the wider Latin America and Caribbean region.
Peru’s finalists: memories of Cusco and Punta Hermosa
Peru was represented by Christian Navarrete Véliz and Leonardo Fassioli, whose dishes explored two different connections to the country’s food culture.
Navarrete, chef of Efímero in Cusco, competed with the mentorship of Emilio Macías. His dish, Recuerdos de un Adobo (Memories of an Adobo), reinterpreted Cusco’s traditional adobo through chiles, corn, and tubers. His approach draws on the Andes as a source of knowledge and culinary possibilities, using contemporary techniques while retaining the dish’s regional identity.
Fassioli presented Punta Hermosa, el mar que me crió (Punta Hermosa, The Sea That Raised Me), with Sang Jung as his mentor. The dish grew out of his childhood on the Peruvian coast, where his father taught him to understand the waves and respect the ocean. Connecting those memories with a concern for marine conservation, his proposal sought to use its ingredients fully and draw attention to the need to protect Peru’s sea.
The two Peruvian entries reflected different aspects of the country’s food culture: one rooted in Andean techniques, the other informed by a connection to the Pacific coast.
A personal story on an international stage
Graciolli presented her dish to a regional jury comprising Jaime David Rodríguez Camacho, Luiz Filipe Souza, Marsia Taha Mohamed, Peru’s Jaime Pesaque and Alejandra Navarro. The panel selected her to advance to the global final, where regional winners will compete under their mentors’ guidance.
Her proposal also received the Fine Dining Lovers Award, which recognizes the dish that best expresses a chef’s personal beliefs and has the potential to inspire a wider audience. The Fine Dining Lovers Insiders, a panel of journalists and industry experts, select the award based on originality, message and appeal.
The two awards highlight both the technical execution of her dish and the personal narrative behind it. Graciolli uses a familiar ingredient to convey a particular perspective on Brazilian food culture to an international audience.
Recognition for Mexico and Colombia
Two additional awards focused on the connections between cooking, community and culinary heritage.
Mexico’s Kevin Chavez Cazarin received the S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award for Entre el mar y el traspatio, a dish inspired by the sea, the land and the communities of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Selected by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, the award considers a dish’s social and environmental implications, from sourcing to broader impact. The assessment covers resource use, climate impact, biodiversity, food waste, nutrition, collaboration, advocacy and innovation.
Colombia’s Diego Ramirez won the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award for Pachamanca, a tribute to Colombian home cooking that draws on ingredients and traditions from different regions of his country. Voted for by the mentors, this distinction celebrates a chef’s ability to connect culinary heritage with a personal, contemporary interpretation.
The road to Milan 2027
The competition’s regional finals take place across 15 regions. Each region selects one winner of the principal S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award to advance to Milan, along with three regional collateral distinctions.
At the Grand Finale, the regional winners will present their signature dishes to a seven-member Global Jury: Enrico “Chicco” Cerea, Rodolfo Guzmán, Junghyun “JP” Park, Pichaya “Pam” Soontornyanakij, Jessica Rosval, Ana Roš and Martino Ruggieri.
Their evaluation will follow the Academy’s three Golden Rules: technical skills, creativity and a strong personal belief. The jurors bring perspectives ranging from Guzmán’s exploration of Chilean biodiversity at Boragó to Park’s research-driven approach to Korean cuisine at Atomix and Rosval’s work connecting hospitality with social inclusion.
The competition asks young chefs to present dishes that combine technical skill with a clear point of view informed by their own backgrounds.
Graciolli’s win illustrates this approach. Her entry for Milan starts with corn and the family table in Brazil, aiming to translate those memories into a dish for an international audience.
