Exclusive gala dinner of the best chef in the world, Leonor Espinosa, at Martinis Marchi Heritage Hotel

The World’s Best Female Chef, the Colombian Leonor Espinosa, has prepared an exclusive gala dinner for the Taste the Mediterranean Festival, on Thursday, October 5, 2023, in the enchanting setting of the Martinis Marchi Heritage Hotel, on the island of Šolta. Espinosa – awarded Best Female Chef in the world for 2022 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants – has presented her culinary skills which earned her this most prestigious gastronomic title. The “haute cuisine” enthusiasts had a unique opportunity to enjoy in the heart of Dalmatia the specialties of her Restaurant Leo in Bogotá, which is also on the list of the best restaurants in the world.

After her stay in Croatia last year, where she participated in the “Redefining Success” conference upon invitation of the Mediterranean Women Chefs association, during the Festival TTM chef Espinosa has hold a special presentation of the FUNLEO foundation in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce of the Split Dalmatia county. She talked in front of a large audience, opening the panel dedicated to women chefs “Witches from the kitchen- the main challenges on the way from cook to chef”.

Leonor Espinosa cooks respecting the tradition and the original Colombian flavours, and combines her profession with social responsibility. In 2008, together with her daughter, sommelier Laura Hernandez Espinosa, she founded the non-profit foundation FUNLEO, which promotes the agricultural development of rural and ethnic communities in Colombia in a healthy and environmentally friendly way, and the preservation of culinary traditions. For her, gastronomy is a means of social and economic development, especially of indigenous Afro-Colombian communities.