These are the best chefs in Catalonia according to The Best Chef Awards.

MilanThe world of haute cuisine is measured by various lists and rankings. One of them is the Best Chef Awards, where there's always a Catalan presence. The nearly 1,000 voters decided how to distribute the one, two, and three knives, as well as the individual awards. At a gala held Thursday night in Milan, there were two entries in the one- and two-knife categories, proving that Catalan cuisine can be captured by influencers. First up is Jordi Vilà: he and his restaurant Alkimia were recognized with two knives. And that means at least 40% of voters took him into account. Last year, Vilà had one, so he's moved up a category.

The new Catalan entry, recognized with a knife, goes to Rafa Peña, the chef at Gresca, who not only caught the attention of Dua Lipa, but also of the more discreet voters on the list. Both Vilà and Peña are chefs who tend to spend more time at their restaurants than at these types of events, so neither was in Milan.

The Valencian chef, Quique Dacosta, was there and received an individual award. The chef from Dénia was recognized as the one who best integrates food and art. "Keep cooking, keep believing in what you do, because no one knows better than you what to do at any given moment," said Dacosta.

There was also time for politics. After awarding the "Best of Humanity" award to José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen, Christian Bau, the event organizer, shouted from the stage: "Stop the genocide." From the audience, Palestinian chef Salam Daqqaq, who runs the Bait Maryam restaurant in Dubai, thanked him in a very emotional moment.

In addition to awarding knives and individual prizes, the Best Chef Awards annually features a podium of three chefs. For two years running, Albert Adrià had finished in second place. This year, the top spot on the podium went to Rasmus Munk of Alchemist in Copenhagen. He also topped the ranking last year. Second place went to Slovenian Ana Roš and her rural restaurant Hiša Franko in Kobarid. Finally, third place went to Himanshu Saini of Tresind Studio in Dubai.

The complete list of Catalan restaurants, including those that already had a knife and those that have kept theirs, is as follows:

Three knives

Albert Adrià – Enigma

Joan Roca – Can Roca Winery

Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas – Enjoy

Paco Pérez – Miramar ~BK_SLT

Sergio and Javier Torres – Torres Brothers Kitchen

Paco Méndez – Eat

Fina Puigdevall and Martina Puigvert – The Cabbages

Two knives

Xavier Pellicer – Xavier Pellicer Restaurant

Toni Romero – Succulent

A knife

Rafa de Bedoya – Aleia

Rafa Zafra – Amar

Rafa Peña – Gresca

Oliver Peña – Teatro