Recipe for success

The age when you could make a name for yourself by mastering a couple of dishes has passed, but the chefs brought up in this tradition are still in place. "It can be very difficult to present them with new ideas," said Chang Ho-jin (張和錦), director of the Chinese Cooking Association and the man who designed the cuisine for the film Eat Drink Man Woman (飲食男女).

He suggested that many students coming out of college would fall under the bad influence of this older, more conservative generation, but admitted that with the institution of formal culinary education, young cooks had more knowledge and understanding of their own. "In five years, we will start to see their influence," said Yung.