Top Colombian restaurants Leo, Villanos en Bermudas, Andrés Carne de Res, Criterion and Harry Sasson are among the country’s restaurants competing for the prize. All of them have previously been featured among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Harry Sasson achieved Colombia’s highest place in the 2017 list, when it was ranked 17th.

Besides the awards ceremony, the event’s program includes a series of talks. The #50BestTalks features some of the region’s most recognized chefs, including Colombian chef Leonor Espinosa alongside Narda Lepes, Jefferson Rueda and Édgar Nuñez. Espinosa will focus her talk on the future of meat and alternative sources of protein. 

Laura Price, from the World’s 50 Best group, emphasised the importance of Espinosa’s talk and remarked that “this region is home to some of the countries with the world’s highest meat consumption, and that has an effect on both health and the environment. Latin America’s best chefs are committed to changing the way they cook and consume protein.”

The event will also include the presentation of the Miele One To Watch Award, which recognizes the potential of a new Latin American restaurant that may feature on the 50 Best Restaurants list in the next few years. The Manu restaurant, in Curitiba, Brazil, won this prize in a ceremony as prestigious as the announcement of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. 

William Drew, editor of the World’s 50 Best group said: “It’s an honor to welcome Manu into the family of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. The restaurant has already earned the reputation of being one of Brazil’s most promising gastronomic destinations.”

The 2018 edition of the event ranks restaurants in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Viewers can watch the World’s 50 Best: Latin America prize-giving ceremony live via the event’s Facebook page at 8.45pm, local time.