Bengaluru, Jan 23: The International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) will host the 12th edition of the IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad, the largest gathering of student chefs of the world from February 1 to 6. The opening ceremony of this edition will be held, for the first time, in Bengaluru, while the grand finale of this global iconic culinary Olympiad will be held in Kolkata on February 6.
The ‘IIHM International Young Chef Olympiad 2026’ brings together culinary industry student professionals from Hotel Management and culinary institutions from 50 countries, positioning food as a bridge between cultures, nations and future hospitality leaders.
YCO 2026 will once again place India at the centre of this global exchange. Student chefs from across continents will experience the country beyond competition kitchens—engaging deeply with Indian cuisines, regional ingredients, culinary traditions and local cultural practices. The Olympiad unfolds across five Indian cities in the first round, culminating in the Grand Finale in Kolkata, home to IIHM’s Global Campus.
Announcing the YCO, and its theme, Dr Suborno Bose, Chairman & Chief Mentor of IIHM and Indismart Group Worldwide, said “The Young Chef Olympiad is not just a competition. It is a global stage for talent, diplomacy, and learning. In the YCO journey, preparation turns into participation, and young chefs begin their role as global ambassadors for cuisine, culture, and collaboration. Each participant here is a proud ambassador of unity and friendship — a Young Chef Olympian — bonded for life.”
Conceived in India and now celebrated worldwide, YCO has steadily evolved from a competition into a global platform of culinary diplomacy. Each participating student chef represents not only a culinary institution, but the cultural identity, traditions and food philosophy of their country—entering a shared learning environment where collaboration is valued as highly as competition.
YCO Theme: “Preserving the World’s Global Culinary Heritage through AI” The theme of YCO, however, underlines that this is beyond a culinary competition but a global showcasing of culinary cultures that builds human bridges.
The theme of this 12th edition of the global culinary Olympiad, announced by Dr Bose, is “Preserving the World’s Global Culinary Heritage through AI”. He underlined that “this opens a new chapter where technology meets leadership, ethics, and global unity.”
In the 12th edition of the YCO, culinary dossiers for each country have been created based on AI enabled research, to be presented to them. This will be a ready reckoner for the participating Chef and mentor of that country. It will also allow all the countries to understand the culinary heritage of other countries participating in the YCO.
At the same time, historical culinary alliances and similarities between different cities of countries participating in the Young Chef Olympiad have been curated. This explores possibilities of creative culinary collaborations. All of this follows the DNA of the Young Chef Olympiad; “Uniting the World Through Food”.
Moreover, separate GPTs of Culinary Heritage for each participating country have been created by IIHM. This will be a permanent resource base for culinary history stakeholders for their country as well as global culinary research stakeholders.
“The Young Chef Olympiad is therefore not just a global culinary event, but the world’s first AI-powered, country-by-country culinary knowledge platform built around a live international competition”, emphasised Dr Bose.
AI at the core of YCO 2026
A defining pillar of YCO 2026 is IIHM’s commitment to the responsible, practical integration of Artificial Intelligence into hospitality education. Central to this is NamAIste Hospitality GPT, IIHM’s proprietary, hospitality-specific Large Language Model developed in-house and built in India for global application.
Through the IIHM YCO GPT ecosystem, AI will actively support contestants even after the Olympiad—offering virtual coaching, sustainability-focused recipe development, real-time frameworks for cooking sessions, and AI-powered mentoring modules. These tools are designed to enhance learning and reflection, rather than replace human skill or creativity.
AI-generated simulations and immersive learning experiences will also expand storytelling and documentation around YCO, while sustainability-driven tools such as the NamAIste SDG Sustainability GPT Builder will introduce designing carbon-minimal itineraries and zero-waste menus, aligning with YCO’s environmental commitments.
“For us, AI is not about automation for its own sake,” Dr. Bose added. “It is about leadership, ethics and using technology to elevate learning. YCO 2026 marks a new chapter where AI strengthens human capability rather than diminishing it.”
However, at the heart of this lies humanity and hospitality. “Dr. David Foskett OBE, Chairman of the International Hospitality Council (IHC), London and Chairman of the Grand Jury, described YCO as a rare example of culinary diplomacy in action. “This Olympiad has often been described as a melting pot of culinary diplomacy,” he said. “Food becomes the common language—allowing competition, collaboration and cultural exchange to coexist in a way few global platforms achieve.”
He added, “The Young Chefs Olympiad shows how IIHM and YCO are preserving ancient culinary wisdom and passing it to the new generation using the most advanced AI tools”, said Professor Foskett.
For many contestants, this marks their first immersive encounter with India, shaping how they perceive the country’s culinary depth, diversity and hospitality ethos.
The opening ceremony will be the official commencement of YCO 2026 with all the participating countries at the same time in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru will be the gateway to the YCO
With the opening ceremony here, chefs, mentors, renowned judges—culinary gurus in their own right—will be in the garden city for three to four days. Nationals of fifty countries will see Bangalore, through culture, cuisine, traditions.
From the YCO, to the world
For chefs, YCO is a powerful stepping stone to international careers. Since its inception, the Olympiad has hosted participants from nearly 90 countries and is now a globally recognised benchmark for student chefs. Participation alone is widely valued by mentors and industry leaders, while podium finishes further strengthen a young chef’s professional standing within the global hospitality fraternity.
United World of Young Chefs: one table, many nations Among the most distinctive, though non-competitive, elements of YCO is the United World of Young Chefs (UWYC)—a signature cultural celebration where young chefs and mentors from more than 50 countries prepare and present their national dishes together in a single evening. This will be held across five cities prior to the first round of the competition in Bangalore: Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Goa.
Often described as a culinary United Nations, UWYC reinforces the idea that food can connect cultures more powerfully than dialogue alone. The Global Knowledge Sharing Declaration IIHM also reiterated the significance of the YCO Knowledge Sharing Declaration, which reflects a growing international consensus among participating institutions and countries to collaborate on AI-enabled learning. The declaration encourages the sharing of information, resources and best practices to develop responsible AI models for hospitality education—positioning YCO as a shared global learning ecosystem rather than a standalone event.
This declaration, IIHM noted, aligns with a broader vision of using technology for the greater common good—where hospitality education evolves through cooperation, not competition alone.There will be one grand winner and others too. But victory in this YCO will be the reaffirmation of Olympiad’s core belief that food can unite nations, education can build bridges, and technology, when used responsibly, can shape a more collaborative global future.