Meatopia reveals first 50 chefs for 10th anniversary

Meatopia London is the legendary festival for food and fire-cooking lovers. Celebrating an impressive 10 years in London, 2023 is hotting up to be the biggest, smokiest, most sensational Meatopia ever. Adding an extra day to proceedings, the line up features over 100 chefs; a big jump from last year’s 75.

Meatopia are delighted to share the first 50 chefs on the line up. The full line up for this year’s bumper festival is revealed in July.

Meatopia has pulled out all the stops this year to invite smoking hot international talent. Tuffy Stone is lovingly known as ‘The Professor’ for his never ending quest for knowledge and attention to detail. Coming all the way from the United States, Tuffy is six-time champion Pit Master making him one of the most influential people in BBQ. Thalía Barrios García is Mexico’s brightest new chef.

Her two restaurants; Levadura de Olla and Cocina de Hum are both located in Oaxaca City. Thalia has been cooking since she was just seven years old and her style of cooking is rooted in tradition, with a focus on sourcing native Oaxacan ingredients.

Holy Smoke were the early adopters of BBQ in Sweden, creating the first authentic BBQ experience in the country. The crew are set to drive their smoker and van across Europe especially for Meatopia. At the tender age of just 21, Zé Paulo Rocha opened O Velho Eurico in Lisbon. The restaurant is an ode to humble Portuguese food and is known as one of the best in the city.

Closer to home, the UK still produces some of the world’s most fascinating chefs, and Meatopia is in on the action. Empire Empire is the new venture by Harneet Baweja, known for his inimitable Indian Gunpowder restaurants.

The restaurant will focus on north west Indian cuisine with a jukebox blasting ‘Bollywood bangers’. Karla Zazueta is a Mexican cookery teacher and food writer with bylines in BBC Good Food, The Guardian, National Geographic and many more. Lucky attendees can sample her profound knowledge of Mexican food at the supper clubs she hosts from home.

Tom Browne of Decatur has been a cult figure on the London pop up scene for years. His authentic Southern American seafood boils, grilled oysters and BBQ shrimp have people coming from all over to sample Tom’s cooking. Keshia Sakarah, chef and writer, runs Caribe’ exploring her Caribbean culture and food history.

Her much anticipated cookbook will be released next year. Woodfire Canteen are known for creating some beautiful wild dining experiences like no other. Famed for their long table feasts, food is cooked over fire by exciting guest chefs.

For the first time ever at Meatopia, the festival welcome charity, Food Behind Bars who are dedicated to transforming food in prisons. Chef Milli Taylor takes on the grill alongside some of the rehabilitated women from East Sutton Park open prison.

This particular prison has a working farm and butcher on the grounds where the women learn farming and butchery skills. Meatopia are thrilled to be demonstrating what fantastic work this charity does.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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