Food & Beverage
Chef Maroun Chedid's Cooking Academy was the venue chosen to announce the third season of the network’s highly popular cooking show. Commenting at the media gathering, Chef Chedid explained that the new season’s setup has been slightly tweaked. “In addition to having 17 chefs competing instead of 15, this year’s contestants come from all over the Arab world, which diversifies the competition and takes it to new highs,” he said. “This is very important as it truly highlights the pressure that chefs throughout the world experience on a daily basis.” The show’s second judge, Chef Bobby Chinn, who was also present at the launch event, said Lebanon had proved to be an ideal nation to host the latest series of the show. “Lebanon has always been on my bucket list. There has always been one event or another happening here, which makes it an attractive destination to visit,” he said. “When it comes to filming, there is greater energy here than anywhere else I’ve been to. The contestants appeared to have a wide range of skills, which helps to produce a better show. Shooting in many different locations was exciting.” He added that the current contestants had higher culinary skills than those competing in the first two seasons. “In other words, every show is a surprise.” Concluding, Saudi chef, TV presenter and the program’s third judge, Mona Mosly explained, “Shooting Top Chef in Lebanon was so beautiful that I couldn’t help falling in love with every one of the wonderful locations where we worked." Mosly also agreed with her fellow judges’ views on the standard of this year’s competition, saying, “The participating chefs have more years of combined experience, which will add to the allure of every episode.”