TORONTO — The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy has announced Canada’s top-10 2022/23 regional finalists. Each finalist has been hand-selected by the prestigious culinary academy, ALMA, International School of Culinary Arts in Italy. The finalists will go on to showcase their talent in front of a panel, including celebrity chef Christine Cushing, chef Patrick Kriss of Alo Group and chef Suzanne Barr, during a three-day kitchen battle from Oct. 23 to 25 in Toronto.
The winner of the regional finalist competition will then cook on to represent Canada in the Grand Finale in Milan, Italy next year.
The top-10 finalists include:
- Samy Benabed – Executive chef, l’Auberge Saint-Mathieu du Lac (Quebec)
- Timothy James Bleau – Sous chef, Deane House (Calgary)
- Dahyun Choi – Senior sous chef, Islington Golf Club (Toronto)
- Houfeng Deng – Chef and owner, Neue Catering (Vancouver)
- Kali Fawcett – Chef de partie, Stofa (Ottawa)
- Carmen Holtby – head chef, The Stable House (South Granville, Vancouver)
- Harpreet Kahllon – chef de partie, Don Alfonso 1890 (Toronto)
- Ben Miller – chef de cuisine, Tableau Bar Bistro (Vancouver)
- Pierre-Olivier Pelletier – Chef and owner, Kebec Club Privé (Quebec)
- Ben Thompson – sous chef, Orchard Restaurant (Calgary)
“We are thrilled to see such strong emerging talent from Canada’s culinary communities participate in the 2022/23 Young Chef Academy Competition regional finals,” says Paul De Larzac, president of Nestlé Waters Canada. “This global initiative, together with S.Pellegrino, is dedicated to nurturing and inspiring the future of the culinary industry and we look forward to supporting these young chefs as they push the boundaries of gastronomy for years to come.”
“Like each one of these brilliant finalists, everyone in the culinary world begins their journey with talent and a dream,” says chef Christine Cushing. “I am so honoured to be selected as a judge for the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition Regional Finale to help make someone’s dream a reality and give them this opportunity to represent Canada on the world stage.”
