The winners of the "3 Chefs Under 35" competition have been announced.

The 35 Under 3 Chefs Competition, organized by Dude Table Gastronomy Marketing Agency and sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions, concluded with its final stage held at MSA. This year, the competition, themed "Menus of the Future," saw Ahmet Göktaş, Hasan Arslan, and Ömer Güneri emerge as winners with recipes inspired by trends such as "Neo-Tradition," "Chef's Touch to Street Food," "New Generation Dining Experience," and "Kitchens Without Borders."

First held in 2022 and now in its fourth year, the 35 Under 3 Chefs Competition, organized to support the career journeys of young chefs who will shape the future of Turkish cuisine, concluded with the final held at MSA on June 12th. The competition offered young chefs the opportunity to share their creativity, technical skills, and culinary vision with leading figures in the industry.

This year's 3 Chefs Under 35 Competition was designed with the theme "Menus of the Future," inspired by Unilever Food Solutions' Future Menus Trend Report. The report highlighted four key trends: "Neo-Tradition," "Chef's Touch on Street Food," "Next-Generation Dining Experience," and "Kitchens Without Borders," forming the recipe concepts for the competition. In the final round, young chefs were expected to develop original recipes that would carry Turkish cuisine into the future, incorporating each of these four trends . In the final stage, chefs were evaluated based on criteria such as taste, technical execution, presentation, creativity, theme alignment, and culinary professionalism.

This year, the competition's judging panel included Funda İnansal, Founder of Dude Table Gastronomy Marketing Communications Agency; Pınar Balpınar, Innovation and Marketing Chef at UFS; Evert Vermandel, Global Innovation Lead Chef at UFS; Maurits van Vroenhoven, Global Creative Content and Culinary Experience Lead Chef at UFS; Cem Erol, Executive Instructor Chef at MSA; Gastronomy Writer Ebru Erke; İnanç Çelengil, Founder and Chef of Aman da Bravo İstanbul; Mehmet Akdağ, 3rd generation representative and Chef of 7 Mehmet Restaurant; and Duygu Özerson Elakdar, olive and olive oil producer, expert taster, and Founder of HİÇ Urla.

Following the final evaluation, Ahmet Göktaş, Hasan Arslan, and Ömer Güneri were named the winners of the competition. The young chefs earned the opportunity to train at Unilever's global food innovation center, Hive, in the Netherlands. This experience will allow the winning chefs to work alongside expert chefs in an international culinary environment, exploring new techniques, different product approaches, and global gastronomy trends.

The creativity of young chefs is a powerful source of inspiration for the future of Turkish cuisine.

Unilever Food Solutions Turkey General Manager Oğulcan Oğuzcan, in his evaluation of the competition, said: “At Unilever Food Solutions, we believe it is important to support chefs in professional kitchens not only in their current needs but also in the transformations they will face in the future. Our 'We Are With You Today, Ready for Tomorrow' approach is precisely powered by this perspective. The 3 Chefs Under 35 Competition makes the creativity of young chefs visible, while opening up a space for very valuable ideas about the future of Turkish cuisine to emerge. This year, with the theme 'Menus of the Future,' we saw that our young chefs have a very strong vision that draws from tradition, follows the world, and considers sustainability and experience on the same plate. We congratulate our winning chefs; we believe that their experience at Hive in the Netherlands will be an inspiring step in their career journey.”

Dude Table Partner Merve Akgül commented on the competition: “We see the 35 Under 3 Chefs Competition as a platform that makes the talents of young chefs visible, opens up opportunities for them to connect with the industry, and contributes to their career journeys. As Dude Table, we will continue to create opportunities for young chefs and develop projects that contribute to the future of Turkish cuisine.”