World’s Best Female Chef 2022
Leonor Espinosa
Cl. 65 Bis #4-23, Bogotá, Colombia
Although she never studied to be a chef, Leonor Espinosa has been at the forefront of innovation in the gastronomic industry for 15 years. At her restaurant Leo in Bogotá, she has forged a unique, cerebral and profound cooking style that sets her apart from her contemporaries, at the same time as she seeks to use gastronomy as a tool of socio-economic development.
In her youth, the trailblazing Colombian cook studied economics and fine arts, then worked as an advertising executive until the age of 35. Although she soon realised that this line of work couldn’t satisfy her creative spirit, she never stopped practising the arts and studying the economy – she simply began to do so through a gastronomic lens.
After teaching herself how to cook, Espinosa opened her restaurant, Leo, in 2007. Her concept, called ‘Ciclo-Bioma’, is based on finding innovative ways to incorporate little-used species into a new kind of modern Colombian cuisine. The idea has more than stood the test of time, as Leo has been voted into eight editions of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants to date and became the first Colombian venue to break into The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2019, most recently securing the No.46 position in the 2021 ranking.
