Taiwan has won the 2025 Panettone World Championship in northern Italy, with cheers erupting and Republic of China flags waving at the venue when the announcement was made Saturday.
The Panettone, a traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread and fruitcake known for its intricate preparation, was the centerpiece of the world championship held from Oct. 13 to 18 in Verona and Milan, attracting top bakers from around the globe.
The competition, which gathers master pastry chefs, is considered a top-tier international event for artisanal Panettone, showcasing the highest standards of craftsmanship, according to a Facebook post by Taiwan’s representative office in Italy.
Photo: Screen grab from the Taipei Representative Office in Milan’s Facebook page
At this year’s event, the Taiwanese team not only won the overall championship title but also took first place in the “Classic Panettone” and “Chocolate Panettone” categories.
The team, coached by Giovanna Chen (陳詩絜), comprised three pastry chefs--Lai I-chun (賴怡君), Tsai Yueh-chun (蔡約群) and Yang Shih-chun (楊世均). They impressed judges and the audience alike with their mastery of natural yeast fermentation, refined flavors, and innovative ingredient combinations, becoming a highlight of the competition, according to the representative office.
Lin Tsan-nan (林讚南), head of Taiwan’s Milan office, attended the event along with several other overseas Taiwanese supporters, waving national flags and cheering for the team.
Lin also conveyed congratulatory messages from President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in recognition of the team’s achievement.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS