Brazilian chef Helena Rizzo, of the Mani restaurant in Sao Paulo, was on Tuesday named Veuve Clicquot's World's Best Female Chef for 2014.
Rizzo, who in 2013 became the first winner of Veuve Clicquot's Latin America's Best Female Chef, will receive the award at a ceremony in London in April.
She takes the award from Italian Nadia Santini, who cooks at the three-Michelin-starred Dal Pecatore in Canneto sull'Oglio, Lombardy.
Rizzo apprenticed at Spain's El Celler de Can Roca, currently rated as the world's best restaurant.
She opened Mani with her husband, chef Daniel Redondo, in 2006. Their speciality is an interpretation of classic Brazilian Maniocas baked and served with a foam tucupi sauce, coconut milk and oil with white truffle.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I am not and have never intended to be 'the best female chef in the world'," Rizzo said of the award.
"I hope that this award makes the gastronomic world open its eyes to the work of female cooks and to the wonderful kitchens we have in Brazil."
The list of 2014's top 50 restaurants will be announced on April 28 at a London reception organised by British magazine Restaurant.
El Celler de Can Roca in 2013 knocked Noma from the top spot. The Copenhagen restaurant, run by Rene Redzepi, had won the previous three years.
