Since 2012, the World Food Championships has crowned a single World Food Champion each year — the competitor who bests every category champion at the Final Table to claim Food Sport's most coveted title.
With creativity, technical excellence, and heartfelt storytelling, Chef Preston Nguyen rose to the top at the 2026 Final Table to become the 13th World Food Champion. Backed by his family in the kitchen and showcasing flavors inspired by his Vietnamese and Mexican heritage, Chef Preston became the first two-time World Food Champion in WFC history, adding to his original title-winning performance in 2021.
Hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, Chef Collin Hilton claimed the title of World Food Champion at the 12th WFC Final Table event in March 2025. Hilton came to the Final Table after winning the World Noodle Championship in his hometown the previous November. Collin was competing at WFC for the first time and demonstrated a powerful mix of flavors and technique that carried him to the coveted title.
Texas Chef Bethany Boedicker claimed the coveted title of World Food Champion at the 11th World Food Championships’ Final Table in Bentonville, Ark., in April 2024. Chef Boedicker is a two-time WFC Dessert Champion residing in Galveston, Texas and hailing originally from Lima, Ohio. She is a three-time WFC Chef competitor with over 10 years’ experience cooking professionally. During the Championship weekend, she cooked alongside her husband and son.
Australian Chef John McFadden claimed the coveted title of World Food Champion at the 10th World Food Championships’ Final Table in Bentonville, Ark., in May 2023. McFadden, who won the category title of World Seafood Champion at WFC’s Main Event in Dallas the previous November, went on to best nine other category champions in a three-round culinary gauntlet designed to test skills, technique, creativity and time management.
For most culinary students, acing a final test simply means they are ready and prepared to pursue a real world career in the culinary industry. But for Preston Nguyen, a Sophomore at Dallas College, the final test he aced earned him a massive starting bonus that will solidify his career for years to come.
California’s Lidia Haddadian, known as the “Diamond Chef” in Food Sport, has finally claimed her World Food Champion title after defeating nine other talented category champions in a culinary gauntlet that occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana. The two-time category champion, who originally claimed her titles at the World Food Championships in 2018 and 2019, went home to Pasadena with her name engraved on the event’s golden platter and the $100,000 grand prize.
Jacqueline Seavey, who is the executive sous chef at Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport, Mississippi, managed to beat out nine other category champs to claim the coveted food crown and $100,000 prize. All of the food-fighting action was revealed on a special two-part docu-series on CNBC.
Lisa Gwatney from Memphis, Tennessee beat out nine other category champs to claim the coveted food crown at the World Food Championships Final Table which was presented by Walmart. Gwatney’s $100,000 prize-winning steak dish, “The Last Supper,” featured a Wagyu Ribeye Filet, grilled and seared, topped with truffle butter sauteed mushrooms, seared Fois Gras, and an Amarone reduction.
Kari Luke spends her life surrounded by food. Together with her husband, Bryan, Luke owns a convenience store in Cissna Park, IL, a small town between Chicago and Champaign. From this modest locale, the world of competitive cooking has thrust Luke into the headlines as the 2016 World Food Champion thanks to her signature rib-eye steak that wowed a distinguished panel of judges at the fifth annual World Food Championships held in November at The Wharf in Orange Beach, AL.
A longtime competition barbecue team — The Smoking Hills — from Overland Park, Kansas earned $100,000, beating more than 1,100 competitive chefs, home cooks and Food Sport enthusiasts in a week-long battle for the World Food Championships title in central Florida. The 2015 World Food Champions, Cheryl and Loren Hill, also took home an additional $10,000 for winning the Barbeque qualifying category, as did the eight other finalists who won their qualifying category.
Ricardo Heredia was named the 2014 World Food Champion, winning $100,000 and bragging rights as the best competition cook/chef. Heredia qualified for the Final Table by winning the Bacon World Championship — one of nine categories represented at the WFC — besting a packed playing field of more than 400 competitors over the weeklong, tournament-style event. The World Food Championships took place in Downtown Las Vegas culminating in a Final Table best-in-show matchup between the nine category champions in front of a panel of discerning celeb foodies who ultimately named Chef Heredia the World Food Champion.
The 2013 World Food Championships was comprised of seven competition categories: barbecue, chili, burger, sandwich, pasta, bacon and dessert. More than 300 competitors began the tournament-style competition, which eventually narrows down to seven category champions. Dave Elliott represented the Dessert Category at the WFC Final Table and walked away winning some major cash and bragging rights as he was deemed the 2013 World Food Champion!
Robert Butler was crowned the first-ever World Food Champion. Butler bested over 30 great sandwich cooks and chefs to get to the Final Table, topped all seven category champions and won over the judges to earn his moment of glory. Of almost 300 total competitors who competed in the World Food Championships, Butler most skillfully and “tastefully” managed to make his way to the top; an impressive tale to tell for years.