The rankings of the best chefs in the world in 2025 are based on several competing lists whose criteria, juries, and biases differ. Comparing these rankings allows us to measure what they truly value: pure technique, media influence, environmental commitment, or territorial anchoring.
Best Chef Awards, 50 Best, Michelin Guide: what each ranking measures
Three frameworks structure the international recognition of chefs. Their methods produce sometimes contradictory results, making any “unique ranking” of the best chef in the world debatable.
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| Ranking | Main criteria | Geographical scope | Identified biases |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Best Chef Awards | Peer voting, media impact, storytelling | 69 countries, 279 chefs recognized in 2025 | Male overrepresentation, network influence |
| The World’s 50 Best Restaurants | Panel of journalists, critics, former winners | 5 continents, about 200 restaurants evaluated | Contestation of vote transparency by several chef collectives (2023-2024) |
| Michelin Guide | Anonymous inspections, consistency, quality of products | More than 40 countries covered | Historically focused on Europe and East Asia |
This table reveals a often overlooked point: no ranking weighs the same skills. A chef awarded by the Best Chef Awards for their influence on social media may be absent from the Michelin list, and vice versa.
To explore in detail the ranking of the best chef in the world 2025, several names appear in at least two of these three rankings, which serves as a more reliable indicator than a single isolated award.
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Geographical distribution of awarded chefs in 2025: who really dominates
The Best Chef Awards 2025, held in Milan, honored chefs from 69 countries. France maintains a strong presence across all rankings without occupying the podium of the Best Chef Awards. Italy, the host country, places several chefs at the top of the table.
Copenhagen continues to assert itself as a hub for avant-garde gastronomy. Slovenia surprised by climbing onto the podium, indicating that historical gastronomic capitals no longer dominate alone.
Rise of chefs outside traditional capitals
In recent years, chefs based in small towns or rural areas have been gaining ground. Scandinavia, rural Spain, regional Japan: this “radical terroir” cuisine is shaking up the established hierarchies around Paris, Tokyo, or New York.
Asia and the Arabian Peninsula are also making strides in international rankings. This geographical dispersion reflects a structural change: culinary talent is increasingly measured by the restaurant’s postal code.
Parity and transparency: the blind spots of the best chef in the world
Among the 279 chefs ranked at the Best Chef Awards 2025, 250 are men and 29 are women, or about 10%. The progress compared to the previous year remains modest. A few female figures like Jessica Rosval or Chiara Pavan are emerging, but parity remains distant.
This underrepresentation raises a methodological question. Peer voting reproduces existing networks, which are predominantly male. A ranking based on other criteria (plant innovation, training, transmission) would likely produce a different list.
Contestation of the legitimacy of rankings
Several chef collectives have publicly criticized rankings like 50 Best and Best Chef Awards between 2023 and 2024. The criticisms focus on:
- The lack of transparency in the composition and functioning of the juries, making independent verification difficult
- A bias in favor of certain countries and sponsors, directing visibility towards already publicized establishments
- The absence of weighting for environmental and social criteria in the final score, despite the stated commitments to sustainability
These criticisms do not invalidate the rankings, but they put into perspective the significance of a title of “best chef in the world”.
Michelin green stars and sustainability: a still marginal criterion in the 2025 rankings
The Michelin Guide created green stars in 2020 to distinguish chefs committed to short supply chains, plant-based cuisine, and waste reduction. The 50 Best has awarded a Sustainable Restaurant Award since 2021. Despite these initiatives, environmental performance remains a secondary criterion in the main rankings.
A three-star chef who imports the majority of their products by air can rank at the top. A chef working exclusively with local products in a small town will have less media visibility and therefore fewer chances of appearing in a peer vote.
What the awards truly value in 2025
The criteria that weigh most heavily in current rankings remain technique, perceived creativity, and notoriety. Storytelling, identified as a “new strategic asset” by analysts of the Best Chef Awards, carries more weight than the concrete measurement of a restaurant’s carbon footprint.
- Michelin green stars still concern a minority of establishments compared to the total number of starred restaurants
- The Sustainable Restaurant Award from 50 Best distinguishes only one winner per edition, with no impact on the overall ranking
- None of the three major rankings incorporate a carbon audit or quantified environmental score in their main rating
The gap between stated commitments and actual ranking criteria remains the defining feature of the 2025 edition. The talents to watch in the coming years will likely be those who succeed in combining gastronomic recognition with verifiable environmental coherence, two dimensions that current rankings still treat separately.