Associate Professor Wen-Tung Chen of the Department of Hotel and Restaurant Management received a special invitation from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India to form a culinary team which would be responsible for preparing food for an official banquet in India in celebration of Taiwan’s National Day.

NPUST President Chang-Hsien Tai traveled to India together with Professor Chen and two students, Zeng Guan-Ru and Li Jun-De, who were selected to help prepare the food for the more than 200 guests who would be present at the banquet. Among these included six members of the Indian parliament, a large number of foreign envoys, and many representatives of the Taiwan business sector.  

In order to promote Taiwan cuisine, the Taiwan representatives’ office set up a special section for which Professor Chen had the responsibility of overseeing. Professor Chen formally worked as a chef at the Kaohsiung Grand Hi Lai Hotel Banquet Hall and has won countless awards for his superb culinary skills.

Ingredients used in the Taiwan cuisine preparation included Donggang Sakura shrimp, rice noodles, red onion crisps, dried radish and NPUST’s famous low-salt soy sauce, which was brought over especially for the occasion. The six dishes prepared included shrimp rolls, fried rice noodles, bamboo rice cake, bowl rice cake, basil shish-kebab and tofu sheet fish with five-flavor sauce – each of which captivated the taste buds of the banquet goers. The dishes offered a rich interpretation of the unique culinary style and flavor of Formosa and amply demonstrated the skills of the faculty and students in the university’s Department of Hotel and Restaurant Management.  

Special gratitude was extended to the Director Henry Chen of the Science and Technology Division at the Taiwan representative’s office in India. Called last year to serve at the representatives’ office in Delhi, Director Chen, who is a professor from NPUST’s Department of Food Science, was behind the effort to give the university an opportunity to display its academic accomplishments in culinary arts. The skills of the team were highly appreciated, not only winning praise from guests, but also catching the interest of media outlets, including the Central News Agency of Taiwan, and “The Statesman” and “Diplomatic Square” magazines of India.

Upon returning to Taiwan, the students who were on the culinary team expressed that it was not only a great chance to use the skills they learned at school to prepare such a high caliber dinner, they also appreciated interacting with and learning from Indian chefs, and considered it a rare privilege to witness such a gathering of politicians, officials and business representatives from different countries. The experience opened up their international outlook immensely and has led them to encourage their schoolmates to pursue other opportunities that may arise to take part in international events and activities.