About the Washoku World Challenge

The “Washoku World Challenge” is a Japanese cuisine contest organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan for non-Japanese chefs who are deeply interested in Japanese cuisine and who are eager to improve their skills and knowledge.
For years, we used to organize regional qualifying tournaments overseas and then the final tournament in Tokyo for the chefs who successfully passed the regional tournaments.
However, last year, we were obliged to modify this policy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In consideration of the safety of all participants, we decided to hold the contest online that was open to all non-Japanese chefs and culinary students who were interested in Japanese cuisine and food culture.

The theme of this year's Washoku World Challenge is “Goho‐Five methods" or, the five cooking methods of Japanese cuisine; “Nama” (cutting), “Niru” (simmering), “Yaku” (grilling), “Musu” (steaming), and “Ageru” (deep-frying). We hope and expect the participants to demonstrate to the world that refined Japanese cuisine, in its essence, is very good at bringing out the natural flavor and taste of the ingredients.

We look forward to receiving many applications!

* Due to the worldwide spread of infectious diseases, we have decided to cancel the final tournament in Tokyo.
As the result, we will offer the special online lessons by top Japanese chefs to the six finalists.