Seven young people from the community aspire to be the emergence of haute cuisine

The Valencian Community is well represented at this event; because seven of the 50 finalists are training in Valencia centers and all of them are in their training cycles; Therefore, it is the second autonomy with the most candidates. Specifically, three are from the province of València, another three are from Castelló, and one is from Alicante. These are Blai Savall García from IES Cap del Aljub in Santa Pola; Noe Martí Castaño, Adrián Martínez Cebrián and Pau Prats Guimerà from Cipfp Costa de Azahar in Castelló; and Paula Mora Contreras, Sarah Olivares Furió and Josefina Toledo Tudela from Altaviana Vocational Training School in Valencia. They are all under 25 years old.

In total, 28 training centers from 21 provinces across Spain are represented and there are students from other autonomous regions such as Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Canary Islands, La Rioja, Melilla. , Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country. Andalusia with 14 candidates and the Valencian Community with seven candidates were the most represented autonomies in this edition.

The 50 people on the published list have passed the first stage of the competition, but they still need to pass further tests to be among the 10 finalists. Applicants now have until January 17 to submit a five-minute video recipe with basic ingredients that everyone should respect. In addition to the common guidelines, young chefs will be free to choose other ingredients (especially from their own autonomous community), and the techniques and knowledge used will also be evaluated.

voting in january

Starting from January 19, the videos will be published on YouTube and can be evaluated, and the 10 students who will compete in the grand final will be determined by taking the opinion of the professional jury. The names of the finalists will be announced on February 21, and they will compete in person at the school headquarters in Madrid in April, where they will have to submit their dishes to be judged. In previous editions, the jury was chaired by other celebrities from the world of national gastronomy, such as Jesús Sánchez, Joan Roca, Diego Guerrero, Martín Berasategui or Andoni Luis Aduriz.

Last year the Valencian Community had two finalists: Jorge Silvestre from Cipfp Costa de Azahar and Olga Vázquez from Altaviana FP Center, two of the three Valencian centers also taking part in the 2024 edition. They will receive scholarships of over 26,000 and 9,500 euros respectively to continue their education. A prize of 1,500 Euros will also be given to the training center of the first winner. Candidates are selected after registration, through a process that evaluates academic achievements and requests different letters of recommendation, among other things.

In addition to supporting the training of young chefs, encouraging them and rewarding their talents, Cordon Bleu promotes the continuing education of culinary professionals throughout their careers; encourages students’ commitment to their education; and promotes the creation of networks of culinary students in Spain.