20 Delectable Photos Shortlisted for World Food Photography Awards

Apr 02, 2026

Matt Growcoot

An airplane flies overhead, framed by tall stacks of square, textured cookies, against a clear blue sky viewed from below. — ‘Transit’ | Kveta Trckova/World Food Photography Awards

The shortlist for the 2026 World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi® has been announced.

Thousands of entries poured in from over 50 countries for this year’s competition, which is regarded as the world’s greatest celebration of food photography. From growing, farming, and harvesting to cooking, eating, celebrating, and surviving, the images offer a unique insight into the lives of people around the world through the lens of food.

A woman in traditional clothing stands by a window in a rustic, old-fashioned kitchen with yellow walls, blue cabinets, flowers, and shelves holding blue and white dishes. Sunlight streams through the window. — ‘The Quiet Act of Cooking’ This young woman, engaged in domestic work in a traditional Danish setting, evokes a simpler way of life. The lighting plays a crucial role in this image, with sunlight streaming in from the windows creating highlights and deep shadows that enhance texture and dimension of the objects and surfaces. A glimpse into a rustic kitchen, where tradition meets the present time. | Judith Balari/World Food Photography Awards

Aerial view of rolling green hills and vineyards at sunset, with golden sunlight illuminating the landscape and small clusters of buildings scattered throughout. — ‘A Bird’s Eye View of the Hill’ The photographic possibilities offered by drones are incredible. This image was taken in Oltrepò Pavese, and captures the Poggio Pregana hill from a bird’s eye view. A magical place where excellent wine is produced and where you can spend wonderful moments in contact with nature or with friends. I shoot at dawn or dusk to capture these lights, and I enjoy these places to the fullest, in silence and admiration. | Alessandro Anglisani/World Food Photography Awards

A festive, colorful table is set outdoors with a roast pig as the centerpiece, surrounded by traditional decorations, tropical leaves, and platters of food. People in vibrant cultural attire stand on either side. — ‘First Offering’ Celebrated at harvest time in northern Vietnam, the New Rice Festival is a moment of gratitude. Freshly harvested rice is prepared and offered with traditional foods, sticky rice, cakes, and tea as thanks to the land and to ancestors for sustenance and continuity. | Viet Van Tran/World Food Photography Awards

A person rides a bicycle across a dry, grassy landscape with scattered palm trees and shrubs, under a hazy sky with distant mountains in the background. — ‘Water on Wheels’ In Tanzania’s East Rift Corridor, water travels the way love often does, quietly, repeatedly, without witnesses. A father rides it home across cracked earth near Lake Eyasi, carrying the one thing a family cannot postpone. Each trip buys health, strength, and another day that holds together. In a landscape shaped by drought, care becomes logistics, and survival keeps rolling. | Wim Demessemaekers/World Food Photography Awards

Young children with traditional face paint sit cross-legged in groups around low tables, hands clasped in prayer, with plates of rice and food in front of them, inside a communal dining hall. — ‘Saying Grace’ These are the newest recruits to a nunnery near Yangon, Myanmar. They are likely to be orphans or refugees from fighting in the country but here they have found a place of refuge, security and companionship. | Sue O’Connell/World Food Photography Awards

Colorful sushi donuts topped with slices of salmon, tuna, cucumber, sesame seeds, and orange fish roe, arranged on a dark blue surface with green leaves underneath some of the sushi pieces. — ‘Sushi Doughnuts’ Sushi Doughnuts reinterprets a familiar form through precise food styling and graphic composition. By transforming sushi into doughnut shapes, the work plays with expectation, repetition and symmetry. Bold colour, negative space and clean structure emphasise pattern and balance, allowing the ingredients to function simultaneously as food and design, creating a vibrant, visually dynamic composition. | Verity Genco/World Food Photography Awards

A busy overhead view of chefs working in separate kitchen stations, filled with pots, pans, plates, and ingredients, creating a vibrant and chaotic cooking environment. — ‘La Perseverancia Market’ At La Perseverancia Market in Bogotá, Colombia, dozens of vendors prepare lunch simultaneously. | Sebastian Kahnert/World Food Photography Awards

Close-up of multiple oyster mushroom caps, showing intricate, delicate gills and curved, fan-like shapes in soft beige and cream tones. — ‘Summer Chocolate Oyster Mushrooms Fans’ Close up detail of homegrown Summer Chocolate Oyster Mushrooms, showing the delicate fan like structure of the gills of the edible fungi. | Kate Ireland/World Food Photography Awards

A person dressed in red stands at night in front of two brightly lit vending machines filled with drinks, located on a dark street with barriers in front of the machines. — ‘Distributeur de rue à Osaka’ A silent street; the scene unfolds at night, on a quiet street in Osaka. The air is cool, slightly humid, and the neon lights cast a cold, white glow that contrasts sharply with the surrounding darkness. A man dressed in red stands motionless before a vending machine. The machine illuminates the scene with an artificial light. | Marlyse Changeas/World Food Photography Awards

A smoked cocktail in a glass with large ice cubes, garnished with an orange twist and a dark cherry on a pick. Wisps of smoke rise from the drink, which sits on a decorative leather surface. — ‘The Perfect Smoked Old Fashioned’ A dramatic, aromatic twist of the classic Old Fashioned dating back to the 1800s. This image presents the historic cocktail on a cracked vintage leather table, highlighting its traditional ingredients with a contemporary touch of wood chips smoke, creating a beautiful sensory and visual experience. | Orly Catz/World Food Photography Awards

A woman wearing a white coat and holding tweezers places a cherry in a martini glass. Large glass containers and beakers with cherries, an eyeball, a pickle, and blue liquids surround her on a laboratory table. — ‘Frankenstein’s Cocktail’ | Chloe Hardwick/World Food Photography Awards

An older person in a patterned sweater and red beanie slices onions on a wooden board indoors, with kitchen items and a large orange basin nearby. Shelves with jars and a kettle are in the dimly-lit background. — ‘Cook at Phuktal Monastery, Ladakh, India’ Phuktal Monastery in the Zanskar valley is both picturesque and unique. The multi-story Gompa is only accessible by foot and is situated clinging to the cliff face above the Tsarap river. While exploring the monastery we passed the smoke-stained kitchen where the cook was preparing dinner for the resident monks. | Gavin Burnett/World Food Photography Awards

A family gathers in a warmly lit traditional kitchen, preparing food together. Children and adults work at tables with dough and ingredients, while red lanterns and festive decorations hang around the rustic room. — ‘New Year Reunion’ *Dashitao* (peach-shaped cake making) has become a signature New Year folk custom in the rural Huizhou region of Anhui Province, China. The surface is often adorned with red or cinnabar, and the final product, resembling a peach, is symbolic of ‘double blessings’ and ‘good fortune.’ In 2018, it was listed as a representative item of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the scene, family members of all generations gather together in warmth and harmony, unfolding like a scroll of reunion. Rice and flour are blended and gently pressed into molds, forming the first shapes of shitao. Nearby, the daughter prepares vegetables and cooks. The photo fully shows the rich flavor of the New Year and the warmth of family unity. | Guoquan Hu/World Food Photography Awards

Close-up of three stacked grilled cheese sandwiches, showing golden brown toasted bread and melted yellow cheese oozing between the layers. — ‘Cheese it’ Picture from campaign for Hochland cheese brand. Food Stylist: Gabi Sowa. Retouching by Katarzyna Kędroń. | Greg Klukowski/World Food Photography Awards

Aerial view of workers harvesting crops in rows of a field at sunset, with a red tractor in the center casting long shadows among the plants. — ‘Night Harvest from Above in Los Carneros.’ Boom lights on quads illuminate vineyard rows and can create dramatic lighting with rich, warm colours. This tonal aesthetic has always appealed to me. I wanted to gain a unique perspective of this Los Carneros harvest and used a drone to show the scene in its near entirety. | Andrew Lincoln/World Food Photography Awards

A group of well-dressed people sit around a table at a lively event. Some have cream or dessert on their faces and are laughing, while others cover their faces in amusement. The atmosphere is joyful and festive. — ‘No Hands. No Cutlery.’ This wedding at The Royal Crescent Hotel sees a group of friends enacting their traditional race to eat dessert without using hands or cutlery. The winner, who inhaled his in no time at all, celebrated emphatically whilst the others attempted to finish with various degrees of success and decorum. | Simon Biffen/World Food Photography Awards

A tall, decorative pink cake topped with cherries sits on a glass stand against a dark red background. A hand is placing a cherry on top, with more cherries scattered on the white tablecloth below. — ‘Cherry Bombe’ Dome shaped cake decorated with piped buttercream, edible gold splashes and fresh morello cherries | Agiie Banks/World Food Photography Awards

A street vendor stands under a pink umbrella selling pineapples arranged neatly on concrete blocks in a square, with a rocky hillside in the background. — ‘Ananas on the Road’ A Guatemalan pineapple vendor has set up his stall in the middle of a road where there is nothing for miles. The pineapples are sold whole or sliced with a strawberry topping. | Valentina Bollea/World Food Photography Awards

The winners of the 27 categories will be revealed on June 2, at the competition’s Champagne Taittinger Awards Evening in London, hosted by renowned Chef and Food Writer Gennaro Contaldo. The Overall Winner of the competition will take home a prize of £5,000 ($6,665).

To see the full shortlist, head to the World Food Photography Awards website.