Brazil in Tartegnin

Rio de Janeiro chef Malu Mello, 39, whose business is catering dinners and buffets for an exquisite public, including celebrities, hails from the countryside. His father pioneered tomato production in Paty Alferes (RJ), from where he left in 2017 to live in the capital. Today, she is a reference in the world of gastronomy.

Malu is part of a generation of chefs seeking regional flavors and an appreciation of artisanal food production. Malu's recipe contains traditional Gruyère and two types of native cheese, plus a touch of cachaça mineira, all locally sourced. « I wanted to promote small-scale producers, » she says.

The chef is a graduate of the French Alain Ducasse school, is a member of the Italian Federation of Cooks and holds a post-graduate diploma in functional gastronomy.

Clara Gaehwiler, who makes her own cheeses with her father in Pirenópolis, Goiás, was the big winner of the Brazilian selections. Her passion began when her father moved from Switzerland to Brazil 40 years ago. She shared her victory with him.

Cheese makers Juliana Raposo and her mother, Heloísa Collins, were second in the jury and audience selection. The cheese chosen by Heloísa was its Dolce Bosco, a blue goat cheese crowned in 2022 as the second best cheese in the world.

While respecting the imposed recipe with 50% Gruyère the candidates brought a Brazilian touch to the event by innovating : there was cachaça (a sugar cane brandy produced in Brazil), jambu (a medicinal plant used in cooking in Brazil) and even guava.