Gastón Acurio is a driving force behind the Peruvian culinary revolution. He has more than 40 restaurants round the world, including his emblematic Astrid & Gastón. Acurio insists on the kitchen being a tool for social development. He is recognised for his philanthropic work, including the cooking school he founded in the Lima suburb of Pachacútec, and his passionate defence of cultural, social, and environmental causes. In 2011, for example, Gastón Acurio launched a successful campaign in Peru against genetically modified crops, which resulted in their being banned for a decade.

With great passion and a transgressive philosophy, Massimo Botura takes on culture as the true power that a chef must wield in order to make a difference. At Osteria Francescana, his three-Michelin-star restaurant in Modena, he plays with musical and contemporary art references to create beauty and pleasure, but also to spread his discourse questioning Italian tradition through a critical and unsentimental lens. Using the exquisite seasonal foods of his region, Bottura has conceived some imaginative and innovative dishes like Oops, I Dropped the Lemon Tart, or Pollution (a protest against nuclear pollution). Massimo Botura is also a promoter of social and environmental campaigns. At Expo Milan 2015, he set up his Refettorio Ambrosiano, where those in need received meals made from the exhibition's leftovers—drawing attention to the millions of tonnes of food waste each year.

Enrique Olvera is Mexico's most celebrated chef thanks to his extraordinary talent and charisma. His restaurant Pujol caught the world's attention by transforming deep-rooted Mexican culinary tradition with a contemporary, sensitive, and authentic focus. At present, Olvera has seven restaurants—including Cosme in New York—, all of which promoting his passion for local products. As an advocate of the simple things, he shies away from pretension and excess. Culture and ecology are part of his narrative: from the cutting-edge complimented with prehispanic methods using nearly extinct native species, to his commitment to sustainable, high-quality products. Olvera has also fought against genetically modified crops, and participates in educational programmes to improve the diets of children in Mexico—a country with one of the world's highest rates of obesity.

Trine Hahnemann is a Danish chef and culinary writer. She is the owner and executive director of Hahnemanns Køkken, a company through which Hahnemann and her team provide some 3,000 meals daily to public and private companies in the Copenhagen area that are made entirely from organic products following a motto of sustainability. Hahnemann is also an activist that has spent many years promoting ways of experiencing gastronomy through diversity and social justice, both influenced by her work in the kitchen, as well as her written word. Trine Hahnemann has written 10 books on gastronomy in Danish, and 7 in English, including Copenhagen Food (2018), The Nordic Diet (2009), and The Scandinavian Cookbook (2008). Her articles are regularly published in the United States and the United Kingdom in magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian and Time Magazine, and she has been invited on programmes on the BBC. Chef Hahnemann has been involved with many social causes in her country, such as the social inclusion of Syrian refugees by helping young cooks fleeing from the war establish themselves professionally. As a result of these efforts, Hahnemann co-authored a book on Syrian culinary culture.

At her three-Michelin-star restaurant Atelier Crenn, Dominique Crenn transforms memories into food that is poetic, modernist, and imaginative. She lectures at Harvard University, and attends numerous conferences around the world. Crenn was also the winner of the 2015 Augie Leadership Award from the Culinary Institute of America. Dominique Crenn's current vision is to create gastronomy that stands out as a result of its modernity and seasonal, high-quality artisanal work. Her culinary style and enigmatic personality are leaving their mark on the San Francisco restaurant scene, garnering a solid, well-deserved national and international reputation for seasonal cooking that is both modern and artisanal.

Yoshihiro Narisawa is the chef and owner of Narisawa, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Tokyo, Japan. During his apprenticeship, Narisawa travelled to Europe to learn from renowned chefs like Joel Robuchon and Paul Bocuse. Upon his return to Japan in 1996, Yoshihiro Narisawa opened his first restaurant, which combined classic French cooking techniques with a poetic use of Japanese ingredients. Considered a pioneer of gastronomy that is connected to environmental preservation, and as such a pioneer of respecting the medium, Yoshihiro Narisawa captured the attention of chefs at Madrid Fusión 2010 to earn the title of 'Most Influential Chef'. Narisawa is also the creator of a food culture based on the richness of Japan's natural environment: the satoyama. There, human and nature coexist, and two key ideas emerge that the chef defends: environmental sustainability and beneficial gastronomy (focused on eating healthy and beneficial foods). This has led to a culinary experience that consists of placing guests "under the spell of the season".

Colagreco grew up and studied cooking in Buenos Aires and headed to France in 2001 as a newly qualified chef, working with Bernard Loiseau until 2003. He then worked with other prestigious chefs such as Alain Passard, Alain Ducasse and Guy Martin. In 2006 he established Mirazur in the seaside town of Menton, in French Riviera close to the Italian border. Colagreco took over the restaurant Mirazur earning his first Michelin star within a year and a second in 2012, thanks to his talent and creativy and access to privileged local products. Mirazur has been on the top four places on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list since 2016.

Brazilian chef Manoella (Manu) Buffara is nominated for her work in Ilha Rasa, Curitiva, where she is fighting to preserve the region’s traditional ingredients, farming methods and biodiversity. Working closely with some twenty local food producers, she has created an agro-ecological network that contributes to the local economy by promoting sustainable use of little-known indigenous crop varieties (producers can consume what they grow, improving their diet). The initiative also provides educational support on issues such as nutrition, environmental preservation and diversity, as well as traditional forms of cultivation, handling, transportation and storage of food.