The eighth World Top Gourmet Awards 2026 in October will see a new product-focused award category.
World Gourmet founder and president Dr Peggy Chong said the inaugural Top Taste Award would fill a long-standing gap in global food recognition.
“While restaurants and chefs regularly earn international acclaim, local food manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises producing heritage snacks, sauces, frozen artisanal goods and health products have lacked equal global exposure.
“The new category judges entries on taste, authenticity, innovation, packaging and quality consistency.
“It aims to lift manufacturing standards and open export pathways for local Malaysian brands,” Chong said at a press conference following the launch of World Top Gourmet Awards 2026 in Kuala Lumpur.
World Gourmet, founded in 2017, honours chefs, restaurants, hospitality professionals, entrepreneurs and food and beverage brands across the globe.
At the event, World Gourmet also inked a memorandum of understanding with regional food fair organiser iFood, represented by its founder Dicky Lee.
The partnership is aimed at advancing the food-and-beverage trade via exhibitions, cross-border business missions and global market networking.
“Malaysia’s multicultural cuisine is a core tourism asset,” said Chong.
“These awards let us share our culinary heritage with the world, draw international industry delegates to experience local dishes and hospitality, and give homegrown businesses a global platform to expand.”
The launch also saw Prof Datuk Zamzani Abdul Wahab, popularly known as Chef Zam, appointed the 2026 World Gourmet ambassador.
The event was launched by Tourism Malaysia package development division senior deputy director Azmi Abdullah and internationally celebrated master chef Dr Martin Yan.
There was a live cooking demonstration of ketupat sotong Terengganu, an iconic traditional dish from the east-coast state.
The eighth World Top Gourmet Awards gala dinner will be held in Kuala Lumpur, on Oct 22, with another gala dinner to be held at LN Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, China, on Nov 21.
Also present were Wiser PR representative Moses Chan and Tourism Malaysia Central Region director Sufian Zainuddin.
