This year’s list highlights up-and-coming superstars from the world’s restaurants, farming, packaged food, alcohol and recipe development.

_{By Chloe Sorvino and Kristin Stollerwith Anthony Tellez}

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Qhe only has access to Nigerian food that Oluwakolapo Smith had in North Texas was a store 40 minutes away—a problem he says was felt by fellow Nigerian immigrants in the US

So in 2018, he dropped out of college to find direct-to-consumer Nigerian food and beverage box AllIDoIsCook, along with business partners Bethany Oyefeso. Today, they’ve shipped over 10,000 boxes of their meat pies and stews to more than 3,000 customers and expect to generate nearly $1 million in revenue this year.

Smith and Oyefeso are among this year’s stand-outs on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list, which highlights up-and-coming superstars from the worlds of restaurants, farming, packaged food, alcohol and recipe development who have persevered despite the odds. Their game-changing work should be watched.

To compile the 12th annual list, judges and Forbes reporters convened in-person to taste samples and discuss the candidates. Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Kardea Brown, host of the Food Network’s Delicious Miss Brown Girl; Under 30 list of alumni Vanessa Pham, cofounder and CEO of Omsom; Randall Lane, Forbes’ chief content officer; and Lee Brian Schrager, founder, South Beach Wine & Food Festival. To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30