The Taiwanese Halal Food & Plant-based Meat Cooking Contest was held for the first time ever during the Taiwan Expo 2022 in Malaysia in an effort to promote Taiwan’s halal ingredients here. The event was organized by the Taiwan Halal Center and the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan. Ten culinary arts students from the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) showed off their skills in this electrifying competition using high-quality halal ingredients specially flown in from Taiwan for the event. It was a meaningful event that highlighted the possibilities for international halal food interactions.
The organisers were honoured to welcome international celebrity chef Mohd Johari Edrus (Chef Jo) as the judge for the competition. While Mr. James Chang, Director of Economic Division of the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Malaysia, was invited to present the awards to the winners. The event that was held at Sunway Velocity Mall drew a large crowd eager to witness the delightful culinary creations.
According to Mr. James Chang, the advocacy by many global celebrities and media to embrace a more sustainable diet and protect animals have led to the widespread adoption of plant-based meat in recent times. Although the trend seems new, Taiwan has in fact long been a leader in plant-based meat production and has accumulated plenty of technical expertise in the field. Through this halal cooking competition, Malaysian Muslims are able to see the different culinary possibilities of Taiwanese halal ingredients and hopefully increase their appreciation of Taiwanese halal food.
The five teams unleashed their creativity to come up with many outstanding dishes. Some whipped up dishes inspired by Sabah’s traditional food, some combined spaghetti and western pastries with Malay dishes to create amazing appetizers and main dishes. Others cleverly incorporated plant-based meat and tofu to create mouth-watering Malaysian styled food. It was a riot of modernity, tradition, nostalgia, and boldness that fully captures the essence of the featured ingredients!
The winners for the competition are Maxlan Edrien Marom and Mohammad Firdaus bin Buraera from Sabah. The winning duo put on the chef toque embroidered with the Taiwan Halal Center’s logo and received the prize of RM 1,000, certificates, and a set of Taiwanese cookery set and knives.
To find out more about Taiwan’s halal ingredients, kindly contact the Taiwan Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur at 03-2031 2388 or email: kl@taitra.org.tw
