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Charmaine Mok

Nine Chinese photographers have triumphed in the annual World Food Photography Awards, with 12 finalist images and one category winner chosen from a competitive pool of 9,000 entries from 50 countries.
Song Pingyao won the Food for Celebration category with an image titled “The Festival of Food Enthusiasts”, depicting diners gathered for a communal banquet.
Taken from a bird’s-eye view, dozens of tables laid out with simmering hotpot and plates of fresh ingredients such as beef, tofu and tripe create a kaleidoscope of colour, with participants in various states of eating and socialising.
“Through tasting, sharing and interaction, they convey the authentic flavours and lively atmosphere of Sichuan hotpot to food lovers across China and around the world,” reads the World Food Photography Awards notes on the image.
A “highly commended” image in the same category was taken by Chinese photographer Yang Zhonghua, which shows the epic annual “Thousand-Person Feast” held by locals in Dongmen Fishing Village in Shipu Town in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Hundreds of tables flank the harbour, with diners enjoying fresh seafood.


Reflecting its importance within Chinese culture, photos showcasing communal eating practices were a common theme among those commended. In the Food for the Family category, Chen Ying’s image of a family preparing red glutinous rice cakes ahead of Chinese New Year in Putian, Fujian province, encapsulates the multigenerational dynamic in a typical Chinese household.
Song was also awarded second place in the Food at the Table category for a photo summarising a very modern phenomenon of food influencers and live-streamers gathered around a bubbling hotpot. Each individual has a phone in one hand and a portable light in the other, prepared to capture the food in front of them in the best light possible. “Blending the time-honoured culture of Chinese hotpot with modern live streaming, the scene radiates the warmth of everyday life and the vibrant charm of Chinese cuisine,” read the award notes.
Winning second and third place in the Street Food category were photographers Zhang Li and Liu Min, whose images captured the swirling smoke of street food vendors. “During my visit to Yuanjia village in Shaanxi province, China, I came across a skilled barbecue vendor,” Liu explains. “Surrounded by swirling smoke and unable to fully open his eyes, he seemed to exude a sense of enjoyment. Captivated by the scene, I pushed through the crowd and immediately raised my camera to capture this remarkable moment.”
The other finalists in various categories were Chen Kunping, Zhao Qinghai, Zhu Zhaofu and Zhu Yanqin.


The overall winner of this year’s competition was British photographer Jo Kearney, who impressed judges with a poignant image titled “A Woman Eats in the Canteen of the Soviet-era Sanatorium”, featuring an elderly woman sitting alone, pouring herself a cup of hot tea in the empty dining room of the Khoja Obi Garm sanatorium in Tajikistan, Central Asia.
“The expression on her crevassed face is beautiful; it moved me to tears,” says World Food Photography Awards founder Caroline Kenyon. “She is alone, her simple breakfast on the table before her echoes the fruit in the painting on the wall behind. Against the parched colours of the scene through the window, the rich crimson chairs give a regal quality to the setting, and though humbly dressed, her dignified bearing is queenly, too.
“She has seen much in life, we are sure, but holds her head high.”
This year’s judging panel, which was once again chaired by renowned food photographer David Loftus, included Claire Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation; Tom Athron, CEO of Fortnum & Mason; and Hong Kong’s chef Vicky Lau of Tate Dining Room, Mora and Jija.

“The remarkable images remind us of the essential role food plays in communities across the globe – through growing, harvesting, cooking, eating, celebrating and surviving,” says Dave Samuels, brand director of the competition’s headline sponsor Tenderstem Bimi Broccolini. “Whatever changes the world goes through, food remains central to our lives.”
Visit worldfoodphotographyawards.com to see the full gallery of the 2026 finalists’ work.


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Food and Drinks

Chinese photographers serve up a visual feast at World Food Photography Awards 2026

A family preparing red glutinous rice cakes for Chinese New Year in Putian, Fujian province, China. The photo was featured in the annual World Food Photography Awards. Photo: Chen Ying/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

“The Festival of Food Enthusiasts”, by Song Pingyao, shows food enthusiasts gathered for a communal Sichuan hotpot banquet. Photo: Song Pingyao/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

A photo by Yang Zhonghua shows Dongmen Fishing Village in Zhejiang, China, hosting the Thousand-Person Feast of seafood. Photo: Yang Zhonghua/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

Song Pingyao’s photo in the Food at the Table category shows influencers gathered around a hotpot. Photo: Song Pingyao/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

In the Street Food category, Liu Min captured a barbecue vendor in Shaanxi province surrounded by smoke. Photo: Liu Min/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

A photo by Zhang Li shows a child receiving hot steamed buns from a street vendor in a town in Sichuan. Photo: Zhang Li/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi

Hong Kong author Kit Fan on food, identity and ‘reverse migration’ in Goodbye Chinatown

UK-based author Kit Chan’s new novel, Goodbye Chinatown, about a Hong Kong family who move to London before returning to Asia, explores themes of the Chinese diaspora through food and “reverse migration”. Photo: Nick Goring

The cover of Fan’s new book. Photo: Amazon

Fan, who began his life in the UK as a postgraduate student in 2001, says he “wanted to write a book that resonates with Hong Kong people … But also with a wider readership that may experience migration, who think they’ve settled in one place but then things change.” Photo: Nick Goring

This Edinburgh Chinese restaurant is dying. Meet the daughter using social media to save it

Lisa He with her mother Sophie at their family restaurant, China Star. The Edinburgh takeaway is months away from closure, but He’s viral social media post has brought lots of attention, and hope. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

Young Lisa with her mother Sophie, who moved to Scotland from China’s Henan province. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

A selection of dishes at China Star. Photo: China Star

Lisa He and Sophie in front of China Star. He says that the next two months will be crucial for the survival of their family restaurant. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

The Hong Kong chefs serving up East-West fusion food without the stigma

Chinese liangpi noodles done in a Nordic style at Aera, in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan neighbourhood. Chef Chevalier Yau’s restaurant is one of a handful in the city that are removing the stigma from fusion food, which has been dismissed by serious chefs in recent years. Photo: Instagram/aera.hk

Chef Kasey Chan at Amalgamate in Causeway Bay. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Foie gras marinated in Chiu Chow-style lo sui at Amalgamate. Photo: Amalgamate

A sweet-and-spicy Sichuan pepper parfait dessert at Amalgamate. Photo: Amalgamate

Antonio “Toni” Au, the chef-founder of Ebauche, has worked in some of the world’s best restaurants, including El Celler de Can Roca in Spain. Photo: Ebauche

A nam yu (fermented bean curd) beef tendon beignet at Ebauche. Photo: Instagram/ebauche.hk

Shima aji with kohlrabi turnip and silky yuzu panna cotta at Ébauche. Photo: Ébauche

Aera’s head chef Chevalier Yau has a fascination with Nordic culture. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Yau’s take on korngrynsgrot at Aera. Photo: Instagram/aera.hk

Prawn chawanmushi egg custard with sweet peas at Aera. Photo: Instagram/aera.hk

Photographer’s snaps of 1970s Hong Kong given life 5 decades on by grandson he never met

A photo taken by Herbert Smith during his 1979 trip to Hong Kong titled “Painting in Neon (1979)”. It is among the five pictures featured in his grandson Jack Smith’s limited-time print collection “Streets of Neon: Hong Kong 1979”, in which the London-based archivist shares his grandfather’s adventures with the world five decades on. Photo: Herbert Smith

Jack Smith develops some of his grandfather’s film photographs, which span four decades and 40 countries. Photo: Jack Smith

A photo taken by Herbert Smith in Hong Kong titled “Toyota (1979)”. It is among the five pictures featured in the “Streets of Neon: Hong Kong 1979” collection. Photo: Herbert Smith

One of Herbert Smith’s photographs of Hong Kong in 1979 in its original film slide. Photo: Jack Smith

A photograph Herbert Smith took in Hong Kong in 1979. Photo: Herbert Smith

A photograph that Herbert Smith took in Hong Kong in 1979. Photo: Herbert Smith

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Hotpot feasts, communal banquets and street food scenes were the highlights from Chinese photographers during this year’s competition


Hotpot feasts, communal banquets and street food scenes were the highlights from Chinese photographers during this year’s competition.


Chinese photographers serve up a visual feast at World Food Photography Awards 2026

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hotpot feasts, communal banquets and street food scenes were the highlights from Chinese photographers during this year’s competition

Hotpot feasts, communal banquets and street food scenes were the highlights from Chinese photographers during this year’s competition