Rabat – Moroccan chef Najat Kaanache has won the “Chef Pioneer” award, awarded by the Spanish magazine ELLE.
Kaanache won the award after presenting a comprehensive program dedicated to Moroccan cuisine on “Canal Cocina” at the 2022 ELLE Gourmet Awards gala on Monday, July 11th. Spanish representatives from several fields including politics, art, and culture attended the gala.
The jury committee noted that “there is no one better than Najat Kaanache to win the prize of Chief Pioneer,” adding that she has “perfectly managed to combine Moroccan and Spanish gastronomy.”
Chef-owner of “Nur” restaurant in Fez, the Moroccan chef is critically acclaimed in Europe, the US, and Latin America for her ability to apply different techniques that she learned abroad from world-renowned chefs to Moroccan cuisine.
Born and raised in Spain’s mountainous Basque Country San Sebastian, Najat studied theater and film in Madrid and London for two and a half years, before moving to the Netherlands to pursue her dream as a chef.
After years of training at some of the world’s top kitchens including Alinea, the French Laundry, El Bulli, and Noma, she settled in Fez to open her restaurant centered around Moroccan gastronomy.
For Najat, Moroccan cuisine is a “maze of pathways where we blur the boundaries between art and gastronomy, between the traditional and modern culinary worlds.”
The internationally renowned Chef Kaanache is now the host of AMC Networks’ cooking series “Cocina Marroquí” which airs on Canal Cocina in Spain and El Gourmet throughout 20 countries in Latin America.
With a goal of introducing the world to Morocco’s unique and savory gastronomy, Kaanache has traveled extensively to instruct chefs across the globe while working in several world-class restaurants alongside international chefs.
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