Filipino-Australian Jose Lorenzo Morales is one of ten talented, bright young chefs selected for the 2022 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition.
A winner will be announced in Sydney on Monday, 17th October, and will compete at the Grand Finale in Milan in 2023, giving young stars a chance to showcase their skills in front of a panel of highly regarded judges.
The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition is an annual event to support a personal vision for the world of food, demonstrating how food can positively impact society.
Following his participation in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition in 2019, Pacific regional winner Jose Lorenzo Morales caught the attention of judge Dan Hunter and secured a Demi Chef at Hunter’s acclaimed restaurant Brae.
Devoted and desiring to make the world a better place through ethical cuisine, these ten young chefs have been selected for their creative and aspirational dishes. They have created dishes with flair, forte and something important to say.
Pacific finalists
The 2022 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chefs and their dishes are:
1. Abhishek Thorat – Flavours of Kashmir
2. Tatsuta Fujii – Dry Aged Yakitori Duck
3. Alexis Belmas – Western Breeze over Oz
4. Diego Huerta – Marbled Turbot, Potato & Seaweed
5. Robin Wagner – Smoked Celeriac/Granny Smith Apple/Crispy Taro
6. Simon Ming – The element of HEAT
7. Jackson Mehlhopt – The Southern Kiwi Dear and its surroundings
8. Srishti Godbole – Farmer’s table
9. Leidy Carolina Maldonado Ramirez – Ensalda de payaso “Clown Salad”
10. Jose Lorenzo Morales (S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2019, Pacific regional winner) – Analogy from the river
This year, the 2022 Australian judges include Jacqui Challinor, Executive Chef, NOMAD and Josh Niland, the inspired fish butcher and multi-award-winning Chef Peter Gilmore of Quay Restaurant.
Each grounded in their own distinct culinary style, the judges are equally passionate about using food as a tool to not only ‘give back’ to the community but further connect communities.
All ten 2022 Pacific Region S.Pellegrino Young Chefs will gather to compete at the Sydney Fish Markets on Monday, 17th October 2022 to spend the day preparing and serving their dishes for judging. The dishes will be ranked accordingly, with the winner to be announced that evening at the Gala Dinner at Seta Restaurant, emceed by hospitality advocate, writer, and reviewer Dani Valent.
The Pacific Region Finals winners will compete in Milan, Italy, in 2023 and will be judged by a stellar lineup of international chefs. In the past, international judges have included Enrico Bartolini, Manu Buffara, Andreas Caminada, Mauro Colagreco, Gavin Kaysen, Clare Smyth, and Pim Techamuanvivit.
The S.Pellegrino Young Chef award will be presented along with three other awards – the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award, the S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility, and the Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy.
They will judge the dishes based on technical skill, creativity, and personal belief, as well as the candidates’ potential for making a positive impact on society through food.
Morales’ dish: Analogy from the river
“This dish is called Analogy from the river. The concept is an accumulation of values and experiences I have as a chef. This dish is my expression of my ethnicity on a plate. I intend to integrate applications of tradition and how it can stay resilient despite my migration to the other side of the world. I embrace this because this is what inspires me to visualize the future’s potential to sustain life’s practices more than just the gastronomy.”
Awards
The Regional judging panels will select regional winners of the following four awards:
Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award
Awarded to the young chef who best reflects their personal beliefs in their dish as voted by the Fine Dining Lovers community online.
S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility
Selected by a leading authority on food sustainability – this dish signifies the idea that food is best when produced through socially responsible practices.
Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy
Voted on by mentors from 50 countries worldwide, the winning dish reflects a connection between cultures on the plate, celebrating global gastronomy.
S.Pellegrino Young Chef Award
Voted by the esteemed panel of Seven Sages – this winning chef must demonstrate unrivalled technical skills as well as genuine creativity. They will have also displayed a strong personal belief about Gastronomy which will convince the Jury about their ability to become a catalyst for positive change.
A Pinoy-Ausssie also competed in 2018
Another Filipino-Australian chef from Melbourne, John Rivera, competed against nine other chefs from the Pacific region and made it to the global finals of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef competition in June 2018 in Milan, Italy. The winning dish he prepared was the Filipino Sinigang, but with his leveled-up interpretation.
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