{"id":17280,"date":"2024-11-22T11:49:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T09:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/?p=17280"},"modified":"2025-01-15T08:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:30:49","slug":"luckson-mare-is-the-winner-of-the-s-pellegrino-young-chef-academy-competition-2024-25-regional-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/luckson-mare-is-the-winner-of-the-s-pellegrino-young-chef-academy-competition-2024-25-regional-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Luckson Mare is the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2024-25 Regional Final."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy has crowned chef Luckson Mare from The Living Room at Summerhill Guest Estate in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal as the winner of the competition\u2019s Regional Final for the Africa, Middle East &amp; South Asia region.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Mare earned the title after an exciting two-day cook-off held on the 18th and 19th of November 2024 at Atlantic Studios in Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Luckson Mare distinguished himself among the region\u2019s most talented young chefs with his exceptional skill, dedication, and ambition, securing a coveted spot at the Grand Finale in 2025.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mare impressed the esteemed regional jury (<strong>Roaya Saleh from Bahrain, Bertus Basson from South Africa &amp; Akmal Anuar from the United Arab Emirates<\/strong>) with his signature dish, <em>Duck, Sweet Potato, and Matungulu (Natal Coastal Plum)<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;My culinary journey began in my mother&#8217;s kitchen, where, as the youngest of five, I was always tasked with helping to cook. My mother has a deep love for sweet potatoes and could tell, just by taste and texture, when they were harvested. I&#8217;ve taken this humble root and paired it with duck\u2014poultry that, to me, represents the essence of fine dining. This reflects the lessons I&#8217;ve learned in the industry, particularly in butchering. I&#8217;ve also incorporated wild-foraged matangulu, a tribute to Chef Johannes, whose teachings have profoundly shaped my approach to cooking,&#8221; says Mare.<\/p>\n<p>As he prepares for the Grand Finale, Chef Luckson will work closely with a mentor to refine his signature dish and hone his gastronomic skills. His mentor will be Chef Johannes Richter, the executive chef at the award-winning <em>The Living Room<\/em> at Summerhill Guest Estate.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>In addition to Mare&#8217;s win, three other chefs received awards during the Regional Final, earning opportunities to compete for global titles at next year\u2019s Grand Finale:<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award<\/strong> \u2013 Zant\u00e9 Neethling from Beyond Restaurant in Cape Town<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award<\/strong> \u2013 Robin H\u00f6fer from Ossiano Restaurant in Dubai<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award<\/strong> \u2013 Mahmoud Ali from Bold Restaurant in Ghana<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The much-anticipated Gala Award Ceremony was hosted at the iconic Mount Nelson Hotel, a Belmond property. The evening\u2019s theme, <em>Bring Your Future<\/em>, inspired a menu by Executive Chef Luke Barry, focused on sustainability and his vision of the future. The dishes were expertly paired with Idiom wines and Nespresso coffee.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For updates and news about this exciting initiative, which aims to discover and nurture brilliant, boundary-pushing culinary talent, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sanpellegrinoyoungchefacademy.com\/\">www.sanpellegrinoyoungchefacademy.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy has crowned chef Luckson Mare from The Living Room at Summerhill Guest Estate in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal as the winner of the competition\u2019s Regional Final for the Africa, Middle East &amp; South Asia region. Mare earned the title after an exciting two-day cook-off held on the 18th and 19th of November&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"He will be representing Africa, the Middle East & South Asia at the Grand Finale in Milan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17282,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280\/revisions\/17282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}