American Institute in Taiwan

AIT's Agricultural Trade Office (ATO), in cooperation with the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA) and the Formosa Chefs' Association, is pleased to announce a "U.S. Food Unlimited Creativity 2009" competition for both established chefs and aspiring artisans to demonstrate their skills using the highest quality American ingredients from the Western United States.

Formed by 13 Western State Departments of Agriculture, WUSATA was created to assist states in their efforts to promote local products on a global level. WUSATA member states include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.  This WUSATA chef competition is being coordinated by the Washington State Agriculture Department along with local support by the ATO and the Formosa Chefs' Association.  Samples of beef, pork, and Alaskan Seafood, are being provided by the U.S. Meat Export Federation and the Alaska State Trade Office in Taiwan respectively.

The first round of the competition will be held on June 6, 2009 at Chung Hwa University. There will be two separate groups of contestants, one group for professional chefs over the age of 23, and the other group will be for younger competitors.  Applicants are required to submit their recipes together with photos when they register.  The organizer has already received over 60 applications.  Only eight two-person teams from each division will be selected to join the preliminary competitions on June 6 at Chung Hwa University and two teams from each division will be selected to compete in the final competition which will be held on the last day of the Taipei International Food Show at the "American Kitchen" on June 26.

WUSATA will sponsor Chef Doug Fisher, celebrity chef from Washington State, to organize chef demonstrations at the "American Kitchen" and to act as a guest judge for the final competition at the show. Winners will have the opportunity to demonstrate winning recipes on CTI TV's "Bing Bing Hao Liao Li" cooking show or participate in Asia's 1st Culinary Cup 2009 in Thailand.   

Competitors will be required to prepare an appetizer and an entrée using the following four proteins from WUSATA member states including, beef, natural pork, Alaskan spot prawn and black cod.  The team members will receive extra points if they use more American ingredients including, premium sauces, tortilla shells, potato products, natural salt, and many other products which will be on display at the competition.  The U.S. Meat Export Federation, Alaska State Trade Office in Taiwan, Italian Coffee Company, Mayfull Foods Corporation, Three Shine Trading Company, Real Salt, and many other companies/associations have provided sponsorship of many of the products which will be featured at the competition.

The preliminary competition in Chung Hwa University will start at 9 a.m. and the organizers will announce the finalists for the June 26th competitions at noon during the media luncheon. 

For more information please contact marketing specialist Cleo Fu at 02-2705-6536 ext. 242, or email her at cleo.fu@fas.usda.gov.

Agenda of June 6th, 2009 Competition