14 stunning photos, winners of the Food Photographer of the Year competition

Petals flying across a flowery cake, a women-only ‘Last Supper’, mouth-watering desserts and joyous meals around the world are among the deliciously evocative images that won the renowned Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2024 competition.

The beautiful and haunting image, Red bean paste ballsphotographed by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, in rural Xiangshan, Zhejiang, during intense preparations for a Spring Festival celebration, won the overall prize in the world’s largest competition celebrating food photography and filmmaking.

The winner of the 2024 Food Photographer of the Year award – a woman entering a room to add her latest creation to a mountain of steaming dim sum – received a £5,000 prize.

Forbes24 Delicious Photos Shortlisted for Food Photographer of the Year AwardsBy Cecilia Rodriguez

“This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery and poignancy,” said Caroline Kenyon, founder of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year. “It is clear that a celebratory party is being prepared. The food is exquisitely crafted, its circular shapes contrasting with the angularity of the openwork screens, through which light pours. Meanwhile, the woman who prepared the meal, tired, brings another tray. His role is to work and serve, while the guests party and enjoy. »

The winners of the 36 categories chosen from thousands of entries from more than 65 countries were announced at an awards ceremony which brought together stars from the world of gastronomy and the arts in London.

“Despite the challenges of an ever-changing world, we never stop growing, gathering, cooking, eating and celebrating with food,” says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and main sponsor of the awards. year, these remarkable photographs remind us of the fundamental role of food in every culture and among every people in the world. »

View the online gallery of all 2024 finalists here

Registrations for the 2025 edition of the competition will open in September.

Overall winner

In rural Xiangshan, Zhejiang, people are busy preparing for the festival celebrating the Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year. This includes the tradition of making dim sum, such as red bean dumplings, steamed rice cakes, and glutinous rice cakes, each of which has a heritage of traditional craftsmanship.

Julielianne Medeiros Domingos’ dazzling Female Last Summer showcases both the power of the universe and feminine creativity.

A Burmese fisherman tries to fish in a mangrove forest. The rays of the early morning sun add magic to the atmosphere.

Photographed in Licheng County, Shanxi Province, China, the farm boasts a bountiful harvest of grain and bananas. Elderly people and children eat lunch together, laughing.

Buri is Japanese for the fish Seriola quinqueradiata, known in English as “Yellowtail”. For centuries, fishermen have filleted buri, salted them, dried them for about 10 days and finally wrapped them in leaves and long ropes of rice straw before hanging them in front of their homes, exposed to the sea breeze.

Creating this image as a symbol of the long-awaited spring was pure joy. Blood oranges are incredible in their texture, color and brightness, all of which are captured here.

Chestnuts symbolize the autumn harvest, according to photographer Tailai O’Brien: “In our family, with strong Celtic roots, they are considered the guardians of people and animals. The old chestnut roaster is a family heirloom and a nod to our agricultural heritage. The crested dove symbolizes harmony and virility. Chestnuts are very nutritious and a delicious food for celebrations.

Paul Dodd created a set displaying all the ingredients of cocktails sold by a local cocktail bar.

The Brokpas are a small ethnic group living mainly in the territory of Ladakh, India. The Brokpas traditionally claim to be descendants of Alexander’s lost army. The Brokpa diet is based on locally grown barley and wheat, most commonly prepared as tsampa (roasted flour) and Gur-Gur Cha, a tea brewed with black tea, butter and salt.

Two women enjoy ice cream at the Pujllay Festival in Tarabuco, Bolivia.

This tempting fall cocktail features pumpkin juice and maple syrup.

This radish salad plays with shapes, colors and texture.

Every evening, Ayesha prepares packets of “Hawaiian candy” herself. The next day, at six in the morning, she and her daughter Hanufa walk through different streets and children’s schools in their village in Bangladesh to sell the sweets. They earn around 300 taka per day (around $2.50). With this income, she supports her family and her business in one way or another.

At the start of the rice season, a young farmer carries a basket of rice shoots to a rice field in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand.

As the sun gracefully descends over the horizon, casting a magical, ethereal golden glow, a tribal woman indulges in the ancient practice of threshing rice grains in the courtyard of her house with rhythmic movements while skillfully throwing the rice harvested in the air.

The boats fan out across part of the lake, creating a floating market selling a range of fresh fruit. This is a floating market of seasonal fruits such as jackfruit, pineapple and mango in Rangamati, Bangladesh. Tribal farmers sell their fruits every morning at the minimum wholesale price.