Chef Ebru Baybara, Winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2023

Turkish chef Ebru Baybara has been declared the winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2023 for her contribution to cultural integration in Mardin, near the Syrian border. She has shown a commitment to social development and biodiversity through her gastronomic work for two decades. Her initiatives have addressed various challenges, including the migration crisis in the region, soil revitalization in the face of climate change, and humanitarian assistance needed during events like the earthquake that struck Turkey in February 2023.

Ebru has demonstrated the potential of gastronomy in addressing an exacerbated migration crisis, growing food insecurity along coastal territories, a prevalent demand for employment opportunities, and the urgent need to revive soil amidst climate change.

Over time, Baybara has joined initiatives that promote the establishment of multicultural integration spaces and job placements, particularly for refugees and displaced individuals. She has been actively involved in nurturing understanding and coexistence in a tumultuous region.

The tragic earthquake that shook Syria and Turkey in early February captured the world's attention, and three months later, various forms of aid are still urgently needed. Ebru Baybara Demir's involvement in humanitarian aid, such as providing hot meals to thousands of people amid calamity through what is known as "Gönül Mutfağı," is a continuation of her ongoing work. For over two decades, the chef has diversified the ways she creates an impact, collaborating with international organizations, local governments, public-private entities, and local cooperatives. In Mardin, a city with significant tourism but few restaurants, she began connecting cuisine with tourism and development, encouraging local women to open their own kitchens (in historic homes) to cater to foreigners, thereby generating employment opportunities and boosting the tourism sector.

She later joined culinary training programs promoted by organizations like UNHCR and FAO, focusing on creating job opportunities for refugees. Currently, she supports "From Soil to Plate," an agricultural development cooperative where volunteers from the region work to improve the production and consumption of local and ancestral grains like "sorgül" (in addition to making soaps, jams, and crafts, and marketing them online). She also collaborates on the management of biodegradable waste for Diyarbakır's farmers' markets, aiming to utilize discarded fruits and vegetables to produce agricultural fertilizers.

Gastronomy constitutes a transformative force even in the most challenging contexts. This is why the Basque Culinary World Prize celebrates how professionals in this sector use gastronomy as a tool for advancing positive changes in areas ranging from sustainability to social integration and food education.

In its 8th edition, the BCWP, having emphasized in 2022 the role that cuisine could play in promoting culture and sustainable practices, continues to emphasize the transformative power of gastronomy through inspiring stories of chefs who are making social impacts through their culinary endeavors.

In addition to Ebru Baybara, the jury has recognized the work of two other chefs, awarding special mentions to Nicole Pisani (UK) and Heidi Bjerkan (Norway).

After receiving the award, Chef Ebru Baybara expressed her pride and gratitude to BCWP, stating, "I feel very honored and happy to be considered deserving of the Basque Culinary World Prize, an award considered the Nobel of Gastronomy in the world. What we achieved with the women who believed in me 25 years ago in Mardin showed me the power of gastronomy to change people's lives and society. Since then, I have initiated projects that benefit people, the environment, and society through the food cycle: from the land to the plate and its return to the land. Harran Gastronomy School, Turkey's first social cooperative, From Soil to Plate, Sorgül Wheat, and the biodegradable waste management project also showed me that gastronomy can bring about change. And all this experience has brought me to today, to Gönül Mutfağ, a project that has an iconic soul to express the transformative power of gastronomy, which plays a vital role in collective healing and preserving people's lives in their ancestral lands."

In 2023, the organizers of this award, created in 2016 by the Basque Government and Basque Culinary Center, promote the eighth edition of a pioneering award that recognizes chefs who use their knowledge, talent, creativity, and strength to contribute to the changes demanded by our society.

In each edition, the Basque Culinary World Prize, through the winner and special mentions, sends a message and ensures that the international community perceives the various areas in which a chef can add value. This year, the focus is on social integration, food education, and sustainability.

The Basque Culinary World Prize is a unique award presented by the Basque Government and Basque Culinary Center, a leading academic institution in gastronomy, as part of the Euskadi-Basque Country comprehensive strategy. The award recognizes chefs with transformative initiatives and carries a monetary prize of €100,000 for a project chosen by the winner.

Ebru Baybara was selected as the winner by a jury composed of some of the world's most influential chefs representing the International Committee of the Basque Culinary Center. Chaired by Chef Joan Roca (Spain - El Celler de Can Roca), the jury included other renowned chefs such as Yoshihiro Narisawa (Japan), Michel Bras (France), Gastón Acurio (Peru), Manu Buffara (Brazil), Dominique Crenn (USA), Trine Hahnemann (Denmark), Elena Reygadas (Mexico), Pia León (Peru), Josh Niland (Australia), Narda Lepes (Argentina), and ThiTid Tassanakajohn (Ton) (Thailand).

This event is part of the Euskadi Japan 2023 year, a multisectoral initiative aimed at enhancing relations between the Basque Country and Japan, as well as promoting the Basque Country in Japan. It seeks to strengthen relationships and create new projects and collaborations in institutional, business, cultural, gastronomic, and tourism fields.

After the announcement, Joan Roca, President of the Basque Culinary World Prize Jury, highlighted, "Ebru provides an extraordinary example of humanity, commitment, and resilience, as well as a connection to the different realities that gastronomy involves: the land, what our ingredients are nourished from, and the importance of biodiversity as a cause to defend against the advance of climate change. People: how can cuisine serve to integrate refugees and displaced persons; how it can create development opportunities. And traditions: how food can open dialogues between different cultures, even in dispute. For twenty years, Ebru's work has been addressing all these issues, consistently and persistently, showing above all the importance of connections, collaborations, and synergies in addressing collective issues."

Bittor Oroz, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Policy of the Basque Government, emphasized that "the BCWP award is part of the Basque Government's EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY Strategy, which is inclusive and ambitious because we know that only through collaboration can we gain our own space in the world and strengthen the Basque Country as an international reference in gastronomy. Understanding gastronomy as another link in the food chain and as a driver of change that offers a different perspective from conventional schemes and seeks solutions to social problems that ultimately concern us all. The Basque Country must position itself as another actor

 in this change, with the aim of joining forces and making our contribution to the global challenge of sustainable human development." He also added, "this year, Japan hosts the announcement of the BCWP winner as part of the Euskadi Japan 2023 program, which will culminate in the 'Basque Week' in metropolitan Tokyo in October 2023."

Joxe Mari Aizega, General Director of Basque Culinary Center, stated, "We approached the selection of the winner of the 8th edition of BCWP with great excitement, eager to add more stories to the growing and strengthening BCWP community. Eight years ago, we created the BCWP award to promote the social dimension of gastronomy. During this time, we have received nominations from 800 men and women from 42 countries around the world, showing that this is a global movement. This year, we continue to focus on professionals who aspire to connect with current needs, women like Ebru, Nicole, and Heidi. Three chefs with inspiring stories and experiences that create social impact through their culinary work and have leveraged their entrepreneurial spirit, knowledge, and creativity to influence social integration, sustainability, and food education."

Jury members of the Basque Culinary World Prize, Michel Bras and Dominique Crenn, also highlighted the winner's work.

French chef Michel Bras emphasized, "I am truly impressed and moved by this year's winner and special mentions. Seeing three women with such remarkable work is spectacular. It makes me think of mothers, the fundamental role they have played in our field. We are in a time of wars, which we either forget or don't want to know about, and while men fight with weapons, women and mothers combat the conflict by feeding and nurturing the population, doing commendable work behind the scenes; something truly noble."

Chef Dominique Crenn stated that the winner of BCWP 2023 is "a true social entrepreneur, rising above and serving her community in times of humanitarian crisis and natural disasters. Not only is her work an example for all of us, but her intention and purpose for humanity are a gift."

Special Mentions

NICOLE PISANI (UK)

Feeding hundreds of children every day is not an easy task, but in 2014, Nicole Pisani left her position at the renowned NOPI restaurant in London to take on this seemingly insurmountable challenge through Chefs in School. The project, based in London, is revolutionizing collective catering services in primary schools to nourish the bodies and minds of children. This initiative understands that food is ultimately a unique source of knowledge, education, and lifelong learning that entire ecosystems can benefit from.

Nearly 20% of children are obese when they finish primary school at the age of 11. Therefore, making a child's mouth water over a plate of carrots or getting children excited about homemade curry is only part of the challenge. For Chefs in School, practical food education means going beyond traditional materials like books and screens, reimagining children's relationship with food. The program provides professionals with specialized training to tackle this challenge, designing customized protocols to systematize processes on a tight budget and creating specific spaces and tools to enhance children's understanding of cooking as a shared activity.

More than 80 schools and about 30,000 students benefit daily from this program, which designs processes to obtain a significant portion of the school's produce from the school's garden, process food on-site, and cook everything (including bread) with fresh, seasonal produce, while also educating different participants about healthy eating and highlighting the cultural and festive aspects of cooking.

Pisani is the co-author of books like "Feed Your Family" and has also worked on campaigns like "EndChildFoodPoverty."

HEIDI BJERKAN (NORWAY)

Among the most prominent figures in Norwegian gastronomy, Bjerkan is a leading sustainability advocate thanks to her ability to integrate various approaches into multiple projects that effectively activate a circular economy within the same food system. Her unique relationship with the farmers in the vicinity of Trondheim (strong proponents of organic food) has been an inspiring example, as she not only considers them an intrinsic part of her discourse at her renowned restaurant Credo (as well as Jossa or Edoramen) but also builds symbiotic relationships for the parties to exchange knowledge and opportunities.

Since 2017, she has played an active leadership role in Vippa, a social incubator-accelerator that provides opportunities to individuals with limited social or economic resources, empowering them to create their small food businesses. Vippa is located in a former fish market in the port of the Norwegian capital, Oslo, which has become a large indoor market with stalls offering food from around the world. Stakeholders present their proposals, and if accepted, they are granted the use of one of these stalls for a year to develop their business. Meanwhile, Bjerkan and her team support this process by assessing the project's viability beyond the Vippa market. Thus, new talents enter the labor market, and the city benefits from organic and sustainable offerings.

In recent years, Bjerkan has also begun to promote the Geitmyra Credo cultural gastronomy center for children and young people, where thousands of young people discover the pleasure of cooking healthy and sustainable food for themselves every year.

Jock Zonfrillo

Upon receiving the heartbreaking news of the untimely passing of Jock Zonfrillo, the beloved and inspirational chef and winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2018, Joxe Mari Aizega, General Director of Basque Culinary Center, stated:

"We mourn the tragic loss of Jock Zonfrillo and are committed to continuing his profound legacy: encouraging chefs to use their knowledge and resources to protect and nurture communities. We will continue to highlight the transformative power of chefs from around the world, whose innovative mindset extends beyond the kitchen, fostering significant and positive transformations in their communities."