Byron Bay chef Mindy Woods has won the Champions of Change Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025.

The award recognises and celebrates unsung heroes of the hospitality sector who are driving positive action in their communities and creating blueprints for a more inclusive society.

Woods is a proud Bundjalung woman who champions Australian native foods. She starred in the 2012 season of Masterchef, reaching fourth place, started her own restaurant, Karkalla, in Byron Bay and has written a cookbook, Karkalla at Home.

While Woods closed her restaurant earlier this year she has launched outdoor ‘Karkalla On Country’ culinary experiences that take place near the beaches of Byron Bay.

Running over two weekends each month, the experiences provide guests with an opportunity connect with the land, through cuisine, taking part in a traditional smoking ceremony and walking through native food forests.

The chef is on a mission to promote native ingredients and elevate Aboriginal cultural heritage.

“I really believe native food will be such an important part of the reconciliation of our nation,” Woods told The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

“Most people don't even realise how many native foods we have. If you went into the pantry of an everyday Australian, you’d be lucky to find any native foods. You might find macadamias or lemon myrtle, but we’ve got 6500 ingredients that are unique to this beautiful place we call Australia.”

Woods' grandmother would use karkalla, an edible succulent that also acts as an anti-inflammatory, to soothe her family's burns and bites.

“Karkalla was the first native food that I picked with my beautiful nan when I was little girl, so I named my restaurant and business in her honour,” she said.

Beyond Karkalla, Woods works as a consultant with an Indigenous-led non-profit called The Returning, which teaches bush skills and food to teenage schoolgirls.

She was also recently been appointed to the board of Black Duck Foods, an Indigenous-led enterprise that advocates for native agricultural practices and food sovereignty. The organisation is working towards establishing a native grain industry in Australia.

“We're doing really deadly stuff with native grains,” she says. “First Nations Australians are the oldest bakers in the world. We've got grinding stones that go back 60,000-plus years.”