Givaudan’s Chef’s Council Mexico 2026
25 years of defining what’s hot.
Givaudan has spent 25 years partnering with some of the world’s most distinctive chefs. In March 2026 we invited them to Mexico City for the 7th Givaudan’s Chef’s Council – a melting pot of global expertise, dedicated entirely to hot and spicy experiences.
Across six episodes of ‘Igniting the future of hot and spicy’, our chefs unpack the heat you already know, and the heat that’s coming next – so you can differentiate on the shelf and win market share.
Igniting the next innovation in hot and spicy
These chefs’ visionary creativity expands Givaudan’s hot and spicy innovations. Through marrying authentic culinary artistry and advanced flavour science, Givaudan continues to deliver bold, resilient taste experiences that push boundaries and captivate consumers in hot and spicy taste innovation.
Podcast series: Igniting the future of hot and spicy
Episode 01
Latin America: ‘salivating hotness’
Speaker: Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita
Mexico has more than 120 chillies, and Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, the ‘anthropologist of Mexican cuisine’ and author of twelve books, knows the difference every one of them makes. In this episode he shows how a single jalapeño becomes three distinct ingredients depending on whether it’s fresh, dried or smoked, and makes the case that great Mexican heat is never about maximum spice. It’s about balance: where a whole chilli dropped into a stew adds, in his words, the soul of the flavour.
Episode 02
North America: ‘time-released heat’
Speaker: Chef Saul Montiel
Born in Mexico, trained across Italian and Mediterranean kitchens for 27 years, Chef Saul Montiel treats every pepper as a personality to be understood and respected. His theme is timing: heat that arrives in stages rather than all at once, built like a song so the spice reveals itself slowly. He’s candid about the gap between an American fear of spice and what layered heat can actually be – and why he believes spicy is the new sweet.
Episode 03
Asia Pacific: ‘layered heat’
Speaker: Chef Qian YiBin
After nearly 40 years in Chinese kitchens, training professional chefs and leading R&D for major restaurant groups in Shanghai, Chef Qian YiBin builds heat as something layered, never something singular. In this episode he shows how classic Sichuan málà beef, lifted with tangerine peel, becomes a sequence rather than a single hit: aroma first, then the numbing tingle, then the warmth. It’s a case for spice as one voice in a chorus – and why, for him, the most unforgettable heat is the kind that resonates long after the last bite. Listen on the landing page.
Each of the five visionary chefs embodies a distinct dimension of Givaudan’s hot and spicy vision – blending local authenticity with global inspiration.
LATIN AMERICA
Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita
(Mexico City)
Azul Histórico, Azul Condesa, Azul y Oro
Chef, researcher, and author known as ‘the anthropologist of Mexican cuisine’. Honored by TIME magazine as ‘Prophet and Preserver of Mexican Culinary Tradition’, he has served as a consultant for UNESCO recognising Mexican cuisine as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
NORTH AMERICA
Chef Saul Montiel
(New York City)
Owner of Única Tacos y Tequila, Executive Chef at Cantina Rooftop
Television personality, and Epicurious chef, he has been featured on Telemundo, Univision, Today Show, Good Day NY, NY Post, Food Insider, Forbes, Time Out, Cooking Channel, Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveller, Food Network’s Chopped, and more.
ASIA PACIFIC
Chef Qian YiBin (钱以斌) (Shanghai)
Founder of
Fusion Creative Kitchen
Renowned contemporary master chef of Chinese Cuisine specialising in Sichuan and Hunan flavour systems, China Olympic culinary team coach, World Chefs Challenge international judge.
SAMEA
Chef Mythrayie Iyer
(Bengaluru)
Head Chef at Farmlore and Founder of Spice Conscious Studio
Culinary innovator with a strong commitment to sustainability and regional ingredients, winner of the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2022-2023 for South Asia and the Middle East.
EUROPE
Chef Cyrus Todiwala
(London)
Chef Proprietor
of Café Spice Namasté
Award-winning chef, restaurateur, author, and culinary educator, BBC Food Personality of the Year 2014, Catey Award winner, his Café Spice Namasté is one of the world’s longest-running Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants.
About Givaudan’s Chef’s Council
Givaudan’s Chef’s Council is the only global initiative of its kind, uniting Givaudan’s unmatched flavour expertise with top culinary minds from every continent. Launched over 25 years ago, it has become a hallmark of Givaudan’s culinary innovation, uniting science and creativity to shape the future of food. The outcomes of each Givaudan’s Chef’s Council has led to industry-first breakthroughs and new technologies, transforming creative concepts into practical solutions that help customers deliver food experiences that resonate with consumers around the world.
Last edited on 29 July 2026