2009 Taipei International Food Festival: Top Chefs Display Cooking Skills
Appearing on stage as an assistant to Executive Cook “A Ji Shih” of the Taipei Grand Victoria Hotel, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin demonstrated his skills in the culinary arts at the 2009 Taipei International Food Festival at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on July 4.
For the “International Chefs’ Summit” at the food festival, the organizer invited top cooks and chefs to showcase their different ‘art of cooking’. Chefs from Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Germany, and other countries took turns preparing elaborate ethnic dishes before the audience.
For the main event, the participants appearing on stage were required to come up with a dish that includes bamboo shoots – an ingredient native to Taiwan. Top chefs including A Ji Shih, Peter Lai, and Bernhard Soffne came up with tasty dishes combining bamboo shoots with recipes using ingredients such as shrimps, beef, and pigs feet decorate the dinner tables at event.
During his address, the mayor recalled that an Australian mayor of Italian heritage once told him in private that he believes the best Italian food is not found in Italy, but in Taipei. With this as a starting point, the mayor said he is confident about bringing cuisines from different countries and culture across the world to Taipei. The city, with a strong basis in Chinese cuisine already, will no doubt provide international visitors authentic tastes of different kinds of cuisines.
He hopes that the Taipei International Food Festival will let the global community know that Taipei is the place in the Chinese world to enjoy the different cuisines from different countries; and a city that promotes culture and creativity.