Jonas Palekas

Jonas Palekas is a chef and food theorist whose practice includes storytelling dinners, experimental food system design, research and writing on ecological relations and gastronomic phenomenons. In 2023 he received the Young Chef of the Year award from the prestigious Oxford Food Symposium. Jonas was an artist in residence at Jan Van Eyck Academy (2022-2023) and Mustarinda (2024). He was a co-founder and head of a kitchen at restaurant Delta Mityba (2016-2023), which played a major role in Vilnius’s contemporary art and food scenes. Besides that, Jonas participates in artistic projects and events across Europe, including Biennale di Venezia 2017 and 2018, Pickle Bar by Slavs and Tartars @WEST, Den Haag (2024), Volcano Extravaganza 2019 in Italy, Kunstverein Amsterdam 2019, and others. With interests in social, cultural, and ecological contexts of nowadays world and with his education in culinary arts, Jonas works across the boundaries of human nutritional habits and raises questions about food in our uncertain times.