World’s 50 Best Restaurants: Why are the global food awards so controversial?

It’s that time of year again: the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards took place this afternoon in Singapore, meaning certain fine-dining establishments found out just what two-digit number they can now scribble across their advertising for the next 12 months.

Not that the number means so much to everyone. It's a list that has come in for more and more stick over the years. Hardly surprising – everyone’s idea of what the “best restaurant in the world” is looks and tastes like is pretty subjective – but beyond that, some of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants's workings have attracted unwelcome attention, too.

This year, another rule change has made it the most scrutinised list to date – once a place has been named the World’s Best Restaurant, it won't ever get a mention again.

Restaurants hogging the top spot, or not as the case may be, is not the only issue the list has faced; these are three of the key reasons why the so-called "Oscars of the restaurant world" is so controversial.

Lack of representation

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards has come in for criticism over the diversity of its restaurants and celebrated chefs. In recent years, debate has swarmed around its representation of women, both as leaders of the restaurants on its list, and as members of the jury. Last year, just five restaurants lead by women made it into the top 50, with three of those women sharing principal roles at their establishments with men.

This can, of course, be attributed to a lack of women in the industry altogether (just 17 per cent of chefs in the UK are women) and the World’s 50 Best has made moves to address gender-focused criticism. Its director Helene Pietrini announced that the voting academy for the 2019 awards would have a 50/50 gender balance across its 1,040 worldwide voters.

The organisation has continued, however, to maintain their controversial Best Female Chef award – an accolade viewed by many as tokenistic. Last year, this was awarded to London-based chef Clare Smyth. Her Notting Hill restaurant Core made it into the list this year, or just about – the best female chef in the world – at least, according to last year's list – has somehow found her restaurant ranked at just position 66 out of 120 in 2019.

The other issue is just how worldly the World’s Best Restaurants are. Only 16 of the restaurants in the 2018 top 50 list are outside of Europe or the United States, and there was only one appearance from a restaurant in Africa – The Test Kitchen in South Africa – ranked at number 50.

The new ‘hall of fame’

The best in the world can’t be the best again – apparently. Massimo Bottura’s Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana topped the list both last year and in 2016, but won’t be featured anywhere this year. A new rule change means that it proceeds instead into a hall of fame-style list of "The Best of the Best". No previous winners will be able to appear in the list either – apart from Noma, which has recently moved locations.

The World’s 50 Best has said that the change allows the list to “showcase and celebrate more upcoming talent from around the world, ensuring the annual snapshot of gastronomic opinion remains dynamic, exciting and relevant.”

It is, however, a blow for consistency as an attribute, and bodes ambiguously for the credibility of the list in the future – in a decade's time, there’s a good chance that the World’s 50 Best list will not include the 10 best restaurants.

Concern has been also been expressed about the deciding factors around such a move. Slipping from the top spot can result in a decline in reputation and considerable hit to the business in question – an issue that chefs are understandably keen to avoid. Speaking to TIME magazine, Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm indicated that chefs who had seen their restaurants drop down the list were “p***** off and mistreated”, and that some had “started to not show up [to the ceremony], and that was hurting the whole thing.”

Voting process

The World’s 50 Best ranking has become hugely influential, having a noticeable effect on the waiting lists for tables that crack into its upper echelons. Getting your spot on the list can be a financial coup – which understandably leads restaurateurs to try their very hardest. Lobbying, though, is not banned, meaning that restaurants with a smooth PR machine can encourage those on the voting panel to visit, and offer complimentary meals.

As the pool of voters is made up of restaurant industry experts, chefs are voted for by their peers. This year, the organisation said that voters were “being encouraged to look beyond the list itself in their travels, and will once again be asked to take issues of representation, reputation and diversity”. There is still, however, concern that the awards are something of a popularity contest, and a more personal one than they should be.