Cologne, 7 June 2023 – Antonio Locoselli, born in 1987, originally from Montalbano di Fasano, in the province of Brindisi, is the winner of The Best Upcoming Chef of Italian Cuisine, the competition held on Tuesday 6 June in Cologne that crowned the best emerging chef of Italian cuisine, German edition.
There was a heartfelt turnout for the second edition of the competition in Germany, organised by the Associazione Cuochi Italiani in Germania in collaboration with I Love Italian Food, a cultural association and international network that promotes authentic Italian food and wine culture around the world.
The jury will be chaired by Gianluca Casini, President of the Associazione Cuochi Italiani in Germania since 2023. Alongside Chef Casini, four other internationally renowned judges for the promotion of Italian cuisine: Enzo Oliveri, President of the Associazione Italiana Cuochi UK – Foreign Delegation of the Italian Chefs’ Federation, Cristina Bowerman, renowned Chef of the starred restaurant Glass in Rome, Mariella Caruso, food and wine journalist, and Cettina Vicenzino, writer who is dedicated to Italian gastronomy in Germany.
“Dalle Langhe al Trentino” is the name of the dish that triumphed: fassona marinated in siphon, polenta macaron, hazelnut mousse, smoked apple sorbet, honey and rosemary tomino cream, raspberry gel, Garda olive and amaretti crumble, Sauvignon foam with butter and sage essence and celeriac cream. “I dedicated this dish to the two chefs who marked my path in the kitchen, which today is a compendium between traditional and molecular cuisine,” says winner Antonio Locoselli, who began his career in the kitchen at a young age and attended hotel-management school in his native Puglia. It was here that he had the opportunity to meet his mentor, Chef Sandro Liso, who introduced him to molecular cuisine.
In Germany since 2014, where he continues to gather experience also working in the kitchens of starred restaurants, in 2017 he decided, together with his wife, to open his own restaurant, ‘Locoselli’, in Steinfurt, in the North Rhineland. An atmospheric restaurant in a castle that offers modern Mediterranean cuisine combined with molecular cuisine.
The Best Upcoming Chef of Italian Cuisine competition took place as part of “The Italian Show by I Love Italian Food”, an important showcase for Made in Italy and Italian products in Germany, which attracted more than 500 catering and press professionals and producers and protection consortia who came from Italy to represent the world of food, wine, but also mixology.
“I did not expect to win, this award means a lot to me and for the affirmation of my culinary journey,” says the chef from Apulia, who excelled among more than 100 competitors in the first selection stages and then over the other five finalists of The Best Upcoming Chef of Italian Cuisine.
“We are very satisfied with the enthusiasm and the strong involvement that has been created around the competition,” says Gianluca Casini, President of the Jury. “This second edition of the competition in Germany has confirmed the importance of enhancing the young talents who promote our cuisine. Offering them the opportunity to measure themselves against chefs of the highest level is always a constructive moment and we are happy to have pursued this project together with the cultural association I Love Italian Food’. On the other steps of the podium were chefs Daniele Ciccarone and Gaetano Scuderi, who came second and third respectively.
