If there’s one thing that the doting parents of Taipei American School (TAS) care fervently about (besides their children’s SAT scores), it’s nourishing young minds. The international food fair organized by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an event that draws thousands of foodies from the expat community of suburban Tianmu and beyond every year. The fair returns tomorrow for its 33rd year.
From Vietnam to Venezuela, more than 20 countries are represented and around 8,000 visitors are expected to show up. In addition to sushi, samosas and shaved ice — all prepared by the gracious parents — there will also be arts and crafts stations, a bouncy castle, as well as a haunted house full of goblins and ghosts orchestrated entirely by the high school students.
Speaking on behalf of the PTA, Priya Purswaney says: “The parents put in a lot of hard work months before the event to ensure that it goes smoothly.”
Photo courtesy of TAS
Purswaney adds that in recent years, the fair has drawn more volunteers from outside of the TAS community, and that local schools in Taipei even arrange field trips to visit the fair. More student associations and clubs at TAS have also been involved in planning the activities for this year’s fair, so expect to see new booths in addition to the usual face painting, water balloon toss and stands selling fake tattoos.
“The fair has become more international and features double the number of clubs, so that means double the fun,” Purswaney says.
Though it’s expected that when you bring a bunch of parents together, there’s bound to be some squabbles.
Photo courtesy of TAS
Nevertheless, the PTA says the preparation is mostly a concerted effort, and that what’s more important is that the parents have the students’ well-being at heart.
“The only thing the TAS parents get out of it is the satisfaction of doing something for the school,” Purswaney says.
If there’s one thing they can agree upon though, it’s promoting healthy eating (never mind the cotton candy stand that seems to have the longest line every year). The school’s cafeteria does indeed have an amazing assortment of gourmet dishes that would put many seasoned restaurateurs to shame. As for the fair, the food is mostly home-cooked or sponsored by top restaurants around Taipei.
“It’s definitely important to teach children at an early age the importance of a healthy diet.” Purswaney says. “The TAS cafeteria is a no fry zone, and vendors at the fair are also encouraged to reduce the amount of fried goods.”
The food fair starts tomorrow at 10am and is open to the public. A portion of the proceeds will go to developing the school, while the rest of the funds is allocated to different charities each year.
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
And so, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), all the experts on the Strait of Hormuz suddenly became experts on US-China-Taiwan relations. The Internet has certainly expanded human knowledge. Lots of these sudden experts made noise this week about Trump’s words after the meeting with PRC dictator Xi Jin-ping (習近平). Trump is going to sell out Taiwan! Longtime Taiwan commentator J. Michael Cole summed the situation up neatly in the Guardian: “We need to keep in mind that he has a tendency to say many things — sometimes contradicting himself within
There is considerable frustration and confusion among many, both in Taiwan and abroad — including in Washington — as to why the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) seems so dead set on using their legislative leverage to slash defense spending and disrupt the ability of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to function. Are they pawns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Are they traitors? In reality, there are multiple reasons. In the first column in this series on this subject, “Donovan’s Deep Dives: How and why the TPP and KMT help Beijing” (Sat May 16, page 12), we examined three
It took 12 years and months of standing in the same mountain location for director Liang Chieh-te (梁皆得) to capture a few seconds of footage: Taiwan’s largest resident raptor locking talons with its mate and spinning through the air in a courtship ritual. With only about 1,000 left in the wild and very short flight windows, the mountain hawk-eagle remains among Taiwan’s most elusive birds. The species generally produces only one offspring per year. Using forest cameras, the film crew and research teams document the arduous process the monogamous pairs go through for the chick to hatch and grow up, weathering
RSS