A team of Taiwanese confectionery chefs on Monday excelled at the Mondial des Arts Sucres (MDAS) in Paris by winning the Team Spirit award.
The competition required two contestants from each team to complete seven tasks within 20 hours spread over two days. They were asked to prepare an ice cream pie, a coffee entremet, coffee, ice cream, a sugar sculpture, chocolate and an artistic creation of the competitor’s choice.
“It felt great to hold up the national flag after winning a prize in an international competition,” said Wang Chia-cheng (王家承), one of the chefs on the Taiwanese team.
Photo: CNA
Wang said that sculpting sugar and making chocolate were both challenging, especially creating a sugar sculpture, which requires heating sugar to 170°C.
“If the sugar gets onto your hand, it’s impossible to shake it off, so you try to get it off with your other hand, and that’s when you get burned again,” he said.
“Sometimes you have to bear the heat while presenting your preparations. You can’t let go no matter how hot it is,” Wang added.
Tung Yi-ching (童怡靜), originally the team’s assistant, was enlisted to compete at short notice.
She thanked her team and family for calming her nerves, and attributed the team’s performance to resilience, teamwork and the ability to improvise.
One of the Taiwanese team’s coaches, identified as “Lulu,” said she launched an online crowdfunding campaign to enable the team to join the competition.
She said she had set a goal of NT$200,000 (US$6,217) for the campaign and ultimately raised more than NT$1.4 million from more than 800 donors.
“One of the benefits of a crowdfunding campaign is that it helps to boost the visibility of contestants so that more people can follow their journeys,” she said.
She thanked everyone who contributed, saying they had given the team a chance to pursue their dream and compete for the top prize.
Although first place proved elusive, the experience had brought them one step closer to the championship, she said.
Yang Chia-ming (楊嘉明), another team coach, said that both contestants had day jobs and practiced after work for four straight months.
Wang’s and Tung’s hard work had not gone unnoticed by the jury.
MDAS jury president Philippe Segond said that he was impressed by Tung’s fighting spirit, despite having been tapped to compete less than 10 days before the competition.
Wang, on the other hand, was very confident and demonstrated a remarkable team spirit, Segond said, adding that these were the reasons why the jury gave them the Team Spirit award.
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