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The Academy Chairs

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is compiled from the votes of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy. We divide the world into regions, with a chairperson in each region appointed for their knowledge of their part of the restaurant world. These chairs each selected a voting panel, who cast a total of 5,859 votes. Select a region below to view the biography of each regional chairperson.

Andrea Petrini – France

Food and Travel Writer

Road Manager of the Cook ‘n’ Roll band “Gelinaz!” (composed of star-chefs Fulvio Pierangelini, Inaki Aizpitarte, Luis Andoni Aduriz, Massimo Bottura, Wylie Dufresne, Casper Kurdhal, Josean Alija Martinez, Petter Nilsson, René Redzepi and Davide Scabin), Andrea Petrini is a food and travel writer who works on a collection of magazines including Biscuit, Gambero Rosso, Omnivore…
Andrey Zakharin – Central Asia & Russia

Editor in Chief Gastronom magazine, Russia

For the past six years Andrey Zakharin has been the editor-in-chief of the Vkysnaya Zhizn (Tasty Life) publishing house whose titles include Gastronom, School of Gastronom, Hand Made, Collection of Recipes & Gardener magazines. Gastronom magazine and its sister publication School of Gastronom have become Russia’s leading culinary magazines and remain in the top ten best…
Bianca Otero – Eastern Europe

Visual / Content Editor The Dining Guide & Where Magazine, Hungary

Bianca Otero has been working in cultural and political media and photography for over 9 years. She currently resides in Hungary and splits her time between Hungary and Sofia. Bianca is Publications Manager at United Publishers, specialists in custom publishing and lifestyle magazines, with a portfolio that includes soon to be launched gastronomical magazine specialising…
James Brennan – Middle East & North Africa

Freelance Food Writer, Dubai

James has been eating food all his life. It wasn’t until relatively recently, however, that he considered writing about it. An advertising copywriter and freelance writer, he jumped at the chance to edit a travel guide to his home town of Birmingham, which led to one or two hundred encounters with the local delicacy, the balti, and an appetite for food writing…
Dimitris Antonopoulos – Greece, Turkey, Cyprus & Georgia

Restaurant Editor & Wine Critic Athinorama Magazine, Greece

Acclaimed as Greece’s top gastro-journalist, Dimitris Antonopoulos is restaurant editor and wine critic of Athinorama magazine as well as lifestyle editor of Status. He recently created “Umami” a new anthropocentric,experiential taste magazine. Antonopoulos is a member of the Greek Wine Journalists and Writers Association, and supports the ideas of the Slow Food movement. He is a veteran at the Vinitaly annual wine fair and Vinexpo in Bordeaux which he attends as a Greek wine specialists….
Dirk de Prins – Benelux

Editor Ambiance Magazine, The Netherlands

From the late 1980′s to early 90′s de Prins worked on a series of television programmes on gastronomy called Krokant and started the radio programme Bistro & Co, a show incorporating talk and tips on cooking and gastronomy on Radio 2, the biggest national radio station in Belgium. 1995 saw the launch of de Prins’ most well-known cookery book, one of a total of six…
Eleonora Cozzella – Italy

Journalist, Food writer

After studying philosophy at university, Eleonora Cozzella has worked as a free lance journalist for several newspapers (Messaggero, La Repubblica) and TV networks. She is very passionate about travel, enology and gastronomy and is the editor of the food&wine web sites of L’Espresso Editorial Group where she writes reports and video reports about the most important…
Grant Thatcher – Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan

Founder and Publishing Editor The LUXE City Guides

Grant Thatcher is the founder and publishing editor of LUXE City Guides, the cult series of international style guides that now cover 33 destinations and which are considered the benchmark for astute, busy and sophisticated travellers. Grant has spent the last twelve years living in Asia, (the past eight of those in Hong Kong). He has written many food, travel…
Hannes Konzett – Austria, Switzerland & Liechtenstein

Editor in Chief “Gourmet & Pleasure Destinations” (GENUSSZIELE)

Hannes Konzett is the founder of the Oscar´s Guide (7 books) and Oscar´s Hotel & Restaurant Magazine, for whom he was editor-in-chief, responsible for the magazine in German-speaking countries, from 1999 until summer 2010.
Lars Peder Hedberg – Denmark, Norway & Sweden

Editor at Large The White Guide, Sweden

The co-founder of corporate communications group Intellecta, one of Scandinavia’s largest and most successful – listed at Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange – Lars Peder Hedberg is also the founder and publisher/editorial director of White Guide and Gourmet Magazine in Sweden, two institutions with massive influence on Scandinavian gastronomy. White Guide lists and…
Richard Vines – UK & Ireland

Richard grew up in Oxford and his first job after leaving school was as a train announcer at the city’s railway station. He took evening classes in economics and went on to graduate in sociology from the London School of Economics. After gaining a postgraduate diploma in journalism studies at Cardiff University, he trained at the Morning Telegraph newspaper in Sheffield. Richard later joined the foreign desk of The Times in London, then in 1982 became an adviser to China Daily in Beijing. He subsequently spent 12 years in Hong Kong working as an editor on The Asian Wall Street Journal and as Foreign Editor on the South China Morning Post. He joined Bloomberg in London in 1995 and became Chief Food Critic in 2004.
Mitchell Davis – USA East

Vice President – James Beard Foundation

Mitchell Davis is a cookbook author and food journalist with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from New York University. A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Davis majored in Food and Beverage Management and spent two years cooking and eating in France and Italy before settling in New York City to write about …
Thomas Rhul – Germany

Publisher and Editor in Chief of Port Culinaire Magazine

Thomas Ruhl is a well-known food-photographer who has already received numerous awards and prizes for his work. He is also founder, publisher and editor in chief of Port Culinaire, a culinary anthology and gourmet magazine published in Germany since 2006, offering coverages, travelogues, recipes created by top level-chefs and product stories to ambitious readers…
Pablo Banos – Central America & Mexico

Editor and Founder of Mi Vino Mexico and columnist for El Financiero newspaper, Pablo Banos has been involved in food and wine for the past 25 years. He is president of Gomez Cruzado, a winery in Spain, and is a member of the Asociacion Mexicana de Cata.
Josimar Melo – Brazil

Food Critic Folha de S.Paulo, Brazil

Journalist and culinary critic Josimar Melo is the food editor of “Folha de S.Paulo” Brazil’s leading daily newspaper. He also lectures in history of gastronomy at the Anhembi-Morumbi University in the city, is the founding director of gastronomic website “Basilico” and has the “Blog do Josimar” (josimarmelo.blog.uol.com.br). He publishes “Guide Josimar Melo” annually…
Kenneth Nars – NE Europe, Iceland & Greenland

Restaurant Critic Hufvudstadsbladet, Finland

A freelance food writer living in Helsinki, Finland, Nars has been the restaurant critic at Finnish daily Hufvudstadsbladet since 1998. He is a contributing editor at Swedish Mat & Vanner, Monocle, Scanorama, Finnish Gloria Food & Wine and German magazine NORR.
Tamsin Snyman – Southern Africa

Publisher / Culinary Consultant

Tamsin heads up the late, great Lannice Snyman’s company which specialises in cookbook publishing, culinary consulting, media liaison, event planning, gourmet product creation and restaurant reviewing. She started ‘eating out’ at restaurants with Lannice in the 70′s, before she could walk – tucked under the table in her baby seat. She has headed up kitchens for game reserves in the middle of the African bush. Tamsin has project managed and styled the food for ten award winning cookbooks.
Leisa Tyler – South-East Asia – South

Food and travel writer and photographer

Leisa Tyler is an Australian/ British travel journalist who has eaten fried grasshoppers in Cambodia, sheep’s eyes in China, five day old fermented fish in Vietnam, planted rice in Laos and studied under some of Thailand’s most acclaimed chefs, all in the name of discovering the essence of the region’s vibrant cuisine…
Mason Florence – South-East Asia – North

Travel Writer and Photographer

John Mason Florence is the Founder and Chief Executive of Talisman Media Group, who’s titles include tourism and cultural publications such as Bangkok 101 magazine and the Bangkok Art Map, he has eleven years experience traveling and writing throughout Asia, including authoring over 15 travel guide books on Japan, Kyoto, Vietnam, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh…
Boris Yu – China & Korea

A self-proclaimed ‘gastro-nomad’, ‘hotel junkie’ and ‘design addict’, Boris has been travelling the world and experiencing the best of the best since the age of 10. Having studied and lived in the UK for 14 years, followed by a stint with his family business in Hong Kong and Shanghai, he is a fusion of Chinese, English and international luxury lifestyle due to his penchant for finding and collecting the truly exclusive anywhere in the world from ‘royal’ garden tools to bespoke shirt buttons, he is the one to ask! Boris’s vision to bring his extensive global knowledge and connections back to the motherland of China has culminated in the founding of über.
Pat Nourse – Australasia & Oceania

Deputy Editor – Australian Gourmet Traveller

Pat Nourse is the features editor and Sydney restaurant critic for Australia’s leading food magazine, Australian Gourmet Traveller. He spends much of his time traveling the country as one of the editors of the magazine’s annual restaurant guide, the only national guide of its kind in Australia…
Rafael Anson – Spain & Portugal

Academy of Gastronomy Founder, freelance writer & publisher

Anson was the founder of the Cofradía de la Buena Mesa (the equivalent of Le Club des 100 in France), the Spanish Academy of Gastronomy of which he is currently president and, together with France and the UK, the International Academy of Gastronomy (President 1991 to 1995), of which he is now honorary president…
Rashmi Uday Singh – India & Subcontinent

Food Writer

Winner of “The Best of the Best” World Gourmand Awards in Paris (2009) in Frankfurt (2008) and Kuala Lumpur (2006) for her books, Rashmi Uday Singh, is synonymous with Good Food for the past two decades.Having studied law and management, she worked with the prestigious Indian Revenue Service, which she quit after fifteen years as Deputy Commissioner to follow her creative muse in newsprint and television…
Raquel Rosemberg – South America (Exc. Brazil)

Food Editor El Conocedor, Buenos Aires

Raquel Rosemberg is 100% “porteña”. Born and raised in the city of Buenos Aires. She is extremely passionate about flavours and is militant when it comes to authenticity, you could say without hesitation that she is omnivorous.
S. Irene Virbila – USA – West

Restaurant Critic Los Angeles Times

S. Irene Virbila has been restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1994 where her reviews have won the James Beard Foundation Award in 1997 and the American Food Journalists Award in 2005. Previously, as a freelancer, she traveled extensively through Europe and Asia researching stories on food, wine and travel for Wine Spectator…
Steve Dolinsky – Mid USA & Canada

Food/Lifestyle Reporter ABC7, Chicago

Steve Dolinsky is a James Beard Award winner twelve times over for his TV and Radio work in the USA and is currently the Food Reporter for ABC 7 in Chicago. Steve has also been heard on Public Radio International’s “The World,” a co-production of WGBH-Boston and the BBC World News Service. In addition to his busy schedule of writing…
Yumiko Inukai – Japan

Restaurant writer

Japan’s leading restaurant journalist, Yumiko Inukai writes articles and reviews for numerous publications including Vogue Nippon, Elle Japon, Casa Brutus. Every two years, she publishes a restaurant guide book for her home town ‘ Tokyo Happy Restaurants’ analyzing the city’s restaurants’ quality, price and hospitality…