New Generation Chefs Election
With its annual New Generation Chefs Election, The Farm Kitchen, a sustainable food concept, offers a stage to talented chefs who are translating the transition to healthy and sustainable food into enticing, tasty dishes. This year, Efthymia Veliskaki won and the year before, Lotte Vermeer. Hospitality brand Chaud Devant shares and supports this mission and hopes that many chefs will be inspired to sign up for the next edition in 2024.
DARING TO THINK DIFFERENTLY
Jonathan Karphatios, owner of The Farm Kitchen and initiator and organiser of The New Generation Chefs Election, says: "Our food system has to change completely and if we keep training chefs in the same old way it is not going to work. Now every starred restaurant has lobster, scallops, truffles, foie gras and red meat on the menu. The problem is education in the Netherlands: there is too little room for innovation, own input and creativity."
'We still know so little about plant-based food'
"I set up this election to provide a platform for people who are not trained as chefs but are good chefs and for chefs who dare to think differently. The system is not right now, but we always want to be inspired by food and discover new flavours. We still know so little about plant-based food. For instance, there are 15,000 different beans. We still have so much to discover."
The 2023 winners, Efthymia Veliskaki (left) and Lotte Vermeer (right) in Chef Jacket Lady Nordic Green
INSPIRATION FROM NATURE, MUSIC AND CULTURE
Efthymia Veliskaki, winner 2023: "Through this pageant, I have met many new people who share the same goal and mission. My inspiration comes from nature, music and culture. Colours are also important to me. After all, you eat with your eyes first and foremost. It is nice to brainstorm together and bring this pageant to a wider audience. I hope for more exposure and more audience next year. We need to make it even more of a party."
CRAZY ABOUT SEAWEED
Lotte Vermeer, winner 2022: "I think it is important to inspire as many people as possible to eat plant-based food. Because I won this pageant, big companies have found me and thus given me a voice. People unfortunately still know so little about real food. Personally, I love seaweed, which is such a beautiful product. It grows a metre a day and is full of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. We can feed the whole world with that."