Judge’s prospective to the ISTM cooking competition 2018

What a brilliant idea! When students go abroad, usually, their biggest challenges are the different climate and the unfamiliar food culture. Especially Taiwanese students - grown up in a very "public" food culture with night markets and countless possibilities to "eat out" - may find themselves in the situation to prepare their meals by themselves for the first time in their lives! Being prepared for that might be as important as attending language courses and signing health insurances! ISTM's cooking competition for students is, thus, not to be underestimated in its value for the exchange program!

• As a "judge" in the competition, I had the pleasure to see and try all of the dishes the students made. And I really mean 'pleasure'! The students all did a great job! I was impressed by their dedication, their thoughtfulness and their skills! They mastered the challenge of a budget limit of 500NT$ and created thematic concepts that connected the three dishes they were asked to make. Some students' mission was to produce a feeling of home when living far away from it, for example by using their family recipes for medicinal chicken soup or trying ways of making Mapo Tofu that work also outside of Asia. Others were already captured by the 'abroad' spirit and created impressive Western dishes like Spanish Paella or a savoury oven-roasted chicken. Impressive was also the wide variety of dishes that students presented (all in a visually appealing and appetising display, by the way)! I had Japanese dishes, Philippines-style pineapple chicken, Chinese-style sweet-and-sour pork, Mediterranean stew, French-style steak, and a global range of desserts. Surely, the students took this competition very serious!
• I am very sure, if students go abroad with this eagerness and dedication concerning their culinary supply, they will never go hungry! They will even impress their local peers by sharing the rich food culture of Taiwan when they cook together. And after this cooking competition experience, I can only say: You should! They'll love it!