Top 60 chefs from World’s 50 Best Restaurants cook and share together

Top 60 chefs from World’s 50 Best Restaurants cook and share together

Copenhagen
Denmark
2.2.2026

Length: 7:11

Source: VisitDenmark
Producer  + 45 23103058
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​STORY
More than 60 of the world’s leading chefs, all ranked among the Top 100 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, have gathered in Copenhagen for an unprecedented act of collaboration. Under the banner of CONVERGENCE, they present their signature dishes while engaging in a shared exploration of where gastronomy is headed next – culturally, creatively and socially.

The initiative was conceived by Rasmus Munk, founder and head chef of Alchemist in Copenhagen. Ranked No. 5 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2025 and recently named World’s Best Chef at The Best Chef Awards 2025, Munk has positioned CONVERGENCE not merely as a culinary event, but as a platform for dialogue – about knowledge, responsibility and the cultural role of food.

For many participants, Copenhagen has become a global reference point for that conversation.

“Copenhagen – I think it’s a food capital now,” says Rodolfo Guzmán, who travelled from Chile, where he runs Boragó, ranked No. 23 in the world.

Guzmán is known for building his menus around Chilean ingredients, many unknown outside the country, working closely with scientists and farmers to explore Chile’s biodiversity.

“The idea of bringing us all together – to share, to learn from each other – that is what gastronomy is about,” Guzmán says.

Chefs arriving from 26 countries shared a common belief: that gastronomy today is defined by local raw materials, combined with cutting-edge techniques and shared knowledge drawn from a truly global exchange.

“The way gastronomy has been evolving – 40 years ago you would never see a chef outside the kitchen,” Guzmán says.
“Now it has reached a point comparable to architecture.”

That view is shared by Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura, chef and founder of Maido in Lima, Peru, ranked No. 1 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2025.
 
Known for his Nikkei cuisine, a fusion of Japanese techniques and Peruvian ingredients, Tsumura describes gastronomy today as a shared cultural language.

“Gastronomy today is about gathering and sharing knowledge,” Tsumura says.
“We should feel happy about what is happening in the food scene right now. This was not happening 30 or 40 years ago.”

Santiago Lastra agrees that openness is key.
 
“Knowing each other better is how the industry and the community become stronger,” he says.

Throughout CONVERGENCE, gastronomy is framed not only as craft, but as culture – a discipline where ideas, aesthetics and identity intersect. According to Alexandra Michot, Academy Chair for France in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants organisation:

“What we see today is a blending of culinary traditions – where techniques and ideas from Asia and South America interact with European cooking in entirely new ways. It’s much more open now, including here in Copenhagen. It’s all starting to mingle — without losing personality and authenticity.”

This cultural dimension extends beyond the restaurant world. Denmark’s Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, has recently announced that the country will explore whether gastronomy can be officially recognised as an art form, placing culinary practice alongside architecture, design and film. The discussion reflects a growing acknowledgement that food is not only sustenance, but expression – a reflection of place, values and imagination.

At its core, CONVERGENCE proposes that collaboration can replace competition at the highest levels of gastronomy. It suggests that knowledge developed in elite kitchens can resonate far beyond them – shaping how societies think about sustainability, creativity and community.

At a time marked by global tension and polarization, the chefs offer an alternative perspective: that food, rooted in place yet shared across borders, can still bring people together – and that gastronomy, as culture, holds the power to connect where politics and ideology often divide.
 
​End

SHOTLIST

  • DRONE Refshaleøen, Copenhagen
  • DRI  Convergence dinners at Restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen
  • CHEFS WORKING TOGETHER – VARIOUS
  • SOUNDBITE Santiago Lastra, KOL i London – rank 49 in the world
    “Yeah. Copenhagen changed my life. You know, I, I moved to Copenhagen in 2015, 2014, I think. And, and it was the most exciting times for a chef to be in Copenhagen. Like it was a dream. “
  • CHEFS WORKING TOGETHER – VARIOUS
  • ” I remember seeing, like, white garlic and, and all these, like, ingredients that I never seen in my life. It looked like another world, and everything was just incredibly new, you know? From rhubarb juice to sea buckthorn to, wild ransom capers and, elderflower butter. And, it was just unbelievable. And when I moved here, there’s a lot of chefs that were moving here, and a lot of people were opening their restaurants”
  • WALKING ON STAGE  The Danish Minister of Culture is Jakob Engel-Schmidt. SPEAK FROM STAGE Jakob Engel-Schmidt:
    “Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to be here today at the very first edition of convergence”.
  • ROOM WITH ALL CHEFS, CHEF Rasmus Munk, founder and head chef of Alchemist, and the initiator of CONVERGENCE says to all:
    “I just want to say, it is quite emotional to see so many people here, that I respect for so many years and I thank you so much for coming”.
  • SOUNDBITE Rodolfo Guzmán, the Chilean chef and founder of Boragó, – ranked No. 23 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (2025).
    “Rasmus is a great chef, and we all admire. And especially coming to Copenhagen – I think it’s a food capital now. And, very excited to be here with his idea of bringing us all together and get to share, get to learn from each other. That is all gastronomy is about. You know, even with all the troubles we have nowadays.”
  • CHEF STIRS THE POT WHILE TALKING ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS.
  • SOUNDBITE Alexandra Michot, Academy Chair for France for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants & writer:
    “And this big nordic wave – SO changed a lot. So first, it was all about the Nordic products and rediscovering the product from the north and from Nordic, country”.
  • DOOR GOES UP TO KITCHEN WITH MANY CHEFS WORKING.
  • SOUNDBITE Rodolfo Guzmán, the Chilean chef and founder of Boragó, Worlds nr. 23:
    “I think the way gastronomy has been evolving, it’s never been to this point ever. And, probably gastronomy is reaching something like architecture. You know, like, it wasn’t like that, you know. Like a chef, you would never, ever see him outside the kitchen – let´s talk about 50 or 40 years ago time. You would never see the chef,    Why? Nowadays, chefs, they’re everywhere. They have tools to help people because food became such a relevant, such a relevant thing”.
  • CLOSE-UP HANDS OF CHEFS AND KITCHEN MASCHINES WORKING
  • SOUNDBITE Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura, chef, Restaurant Maido in Lima, Peru. rank 1 in the world:
    “And it’s a beautiful time to come because I think, the CONVERGENCE event, together with Hexagone (France). It’s one of the examples of what is going on with astronomy today, which is gathering, sharing knowledge. I think we should feel really happy about what is going on with the food scene right now, at this moment. I believe that this was not happening 30 years ago.”
  • CLOSE UPI TWO PLATES OF A DISH WITH SALAD BEING TAKEN BY WAITER.
  • SOUNDBITE Santiago Lastra, KOL i London
    “You can meet in like, lots of conferences and events and, I don’t know, in like a party or something or award ceremonies, but it’s not until you cook together that you like, you share something. That you share, like there is something that that you share, by doing cooking together. That is the service that is the, I think the camaraderie of being in the same kitchen, helps each other. That makes you, like, bond. Better.  You know better and know each other better and – that is really the way that the industry, and the, the community gets stronger, you know! Because you can see a person always in different contexts, you know, a lot of events. But to have these makes people, be closer, you know.”
  • TWO CHEFS WORKING TOGETHER – YOUNG CHEF WATCHING AND TWO COMING IN FRONT.
  • CLOSE-UP CHEF CONCENTRATED
  • CLOSE UP TWO MINI-TARTS BEING DECORATED WITH A MINI-FLOWER.
  • SOUNDBITE Alexandra Michot, Academy Chair for France for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants & writer CONt.:
    “And it start to change a bit, after this Nordic wave and the proud of being part of this place on Earth – about astronomy. 
    It’s more open, right now. I see more and more restaurants from Asia, for example. It’s a big Asian scene right now in Copenhagen, for example. And a lot of South American restaurants, too. So it’s, it’s, it’s starting to mingle, a bit more. But without losing personality and authenticity, which is really interesting.”
  • C.U. CHEFS HANDS CUTTING VEGETABLE.
  • TOTAL Santiago Lastra, WORKING WITH TEAM TOGETHER – HE TRIES TO CALL SOMEONE WITH HANDS AROUND MOIJ
  • KITCHEN WITH MANY CHEFS SEEN THROUGH A DOOR CHEFS WORKING TOGETHER – VARIOUS
  • SPEAK FROM STAGE Jakob Engel-Schmidt: The Danish Minister of Culture is Jakob Engel-Schmidt cont.:
    “Therefore I have decided to explore whether Denmark officially can recognize gastronomy as an artistic expression.”
  • TOTAL Rasmus Munk CLAPPING WITH PEOPLE AROUND HIM CHEERING THE GATHERING
  • TOTAL KITCHEN FROM ABOVE – ALL CLAPPING AND CHEERING ABOUT THE GATHERING
  • TRACKING TOTAL OF SAME KITCHEN FROM ABOVE – WITH PEOPLE WORKING
  • TOTAL CHEFS SMILING TO EACH OTHER
  • TRACKING TOTAL KITCHEN WITH CHEF WALKING ALONG CAMERA

END