German chef crowned world champion for cabbage, tuna and caviar pizza

A German pizza chef has been crowned world champion in Naples. 

Lorenzo Parrotta, from the western city of Ludwigshafen, won the title on Wednesday in the Contemporary Pizza category at the unofficial world championship, organized by the Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers. 

The 24-year-old, a German-Italian dual national, impressed the jury with a creation featuring purple potato cream, deep-fried savoy cabbage, tuna tartare and pine nuts, finished with lemon caviar.

In a post on Instagram, Parrotta said he was crowned "not only as the youngest pizza world champion of all time, but also as the first official German world champion in this category."

Parrotta is not even a professional pizza chef, operating out of a food trailer while maintaining his main job as a chemical plant worker. He now plans to open his own restaurant.

A total of 16 titles were handed out at the championships in the southern Italian city of Naples, which is seen as the home of pizza. 

The main prize for the best Neapolitan-style pizza was won by Simone Zullo, an Italian-born chef who owns a pizzeria in Sydney. Close behind were female chefs So Jung Kim from South Korea and Rui Ebina from Japan.

Over 600 pizza chefs from 35 countries took part in the competition, with South Korea taking home the nations' prize ahead of Puerto Rico and Canada.