The “Boa Cama Boa Mesa” guide presents the 2025 Career Award to Nuno Diniz, renowned chef, trainer, promoter, author, columnist and consultant.
This year’s jury, composed of Mónica Balsemão, José Bento dos Santos, Vítor Sobral, Rodrigo Castelo, João Wengorovius, Ricardo Dias Felner and Paulo Brilhante, highlighted his decisive contribution to the development and affirmation of gastronomy and catering in Portugal, with a professional career dedicated to this sector and widely recognized by the community.
Born in Lisbon in 1960, Nuno Diniz graduated in Law from Universidade Livre, worked on the radio, was a columnist for several publications and was a rugby coach for 20 years. However, it was in the kitchen and teaching that he found his true calling, gaining visibility, respect and admiration from his colleagues and the many cooks he helped train.
As a chef, gastronome, author and promoter, he stood out as a trainer at the Lisbon Hotel School, where he taught “Culinary Arts” for more than a decade, and as a professor of “Gastronomic Culture in Europe” in the first undergraduate course in Gastronomy, in Coimbra. A traveller, he has cooked as a guest in over 90 countries and has been a consultant at several renowned restaurants.
In 2020, at the age of 60, he opened his project in Lisbon, in partnership with Rodrigo Menezes. The Revolução restaurant, however, was a very brief project due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His consideration for the product and the producers was evident in the Revolução menu, which included the names of the producers. This experience was reported in the work “Elitist Popular Cuisine – Dishes of the Revolution”, published in 2023.
Over 14 years, Nuno Diniz travelled around Portugal in search of recipes, practices and customs for more than 120 varieties of sausages and smoked meats. This work resulted in the book “Entre Fumos e Ventos – Fumeiros e Enchidos de Portugal”, published in 2019 and awarded the Gastronomic Literature Prize by the International Academy of Gastronomy in 2020.
A constant presence at the Chefs’ Congresses between 2007 and 2019, Nuno Diniz was a judge at several gastronomic events. In 2024, he released “Chronicles of a Cook in Exile”, a reflection on his gastronomic journey.
For his invaluable contribution to Portuguese gastronomy, the 2025 Career Award from the “Boa Cama Boa Mesa” guide is presented to Nuno Diniz.
This award honours individuals who stand out in the various areas associated with Good Bed and Good Table, alternating annually between these areas. In recent years, the “Boa Cama Boa Mesa” Career Award has already distinguished the businessman and chef Vítor Sobral, in 2016; Evaristo Cardoso, founder and owner of the Solar dos Presuntos restaurant, in 2017; Dionísio Pestana, founder and president of the Pestana Group, in 2018; João Pires, master sommelier, in 2019; Jorge Rebelo de Almeida, founder and president of the Vila Galé group, in 2020; Lurdes Graça, from the Manjar do Marquês restaurant, in Pombal, and Emílio Andrade, from the Adega Tia Matilde restaurant, in Lisbon, ex aequo, in 2021; António Trindade, founder and president of the PortoBay group, in 2022, Justa Nobre, chef and businesswoman, in 2023, and, last year, Isabel Costa and João Tomás, entrepreneurs and creators of the Burel – Mountain Originals brand, which includes Casa de São Loureço, Casa das Penhas Douradas and Burel Factory.
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