CHINA: OLYMPICS - As the Olympics approach and hungry visitors arrive, China worries they may run out of cooks

Record ID: 329532

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS - As the Olympics approach and hungry visitors arrive, China worries they may run out of cooks
  • Date: 17th July 2008
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SI RUI, TEACHER AT NEWEAST SCHOOL, DEMONSTRATING HOW TO MAKE "KUNG PAO CHICKEN" SI COOKING "KUNG PAO CHICKEN" IN A WOK STUDENTS LOOKING "KUNG PAO CHICKEN" BEING LADLED OUT OF FRYING PAN "KUNG PAO CHICKEN" VARIOUS OF STUDENTS LISTENING AND WATCHING SI TEACHING RED SPICES IN BOWL (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SI RUI, TEACHER AT NEWEAST SCHOOL, SAYING: "This offers us a platform, an opportunity to promote ourselves. It's good not only for our school, but also for Chinese cuisine in general." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS CHOPPING VEGETABLES A PLATE WITH VEGETABLES ARRANGED IN PATTERNS LIU WEI, DIRECTOR AT NEWEAST SCHOOL, TALKING TO STUDENTS A DECORATIVE PLATTER OF VEGETABLES STUDENTS TRYING TO MAKE DECORATIVE PLATTERS OF VEGETABLES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) XU YONGJI, DIRECTOR AT NEWEAST SCHOOL, SAYING: "We are being affected. Beijing is restricting the number of non-Beijing residents who can enter the city during the games. Most of the schools inside the third ring road have been told to go on vacation. Many students have called us to ask if we are going to close down during the games."
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVADI6IRY73BDVLLG6V24D0AMF3Y
  • Story Text: While iconic Chinese dishes such as "Kung pao chicken" are being given official Olympic names and chefs are sharpening their knives in Olympic cookery competitions, cookery schools fear China may not have enough cooks for the Games.
    With the introduction of official names for Chinese dishes, China's cooks and foreign visitors are all going to be reading from the same menu.
    Cookery schools are busy trying to make sure that their chefs know what they are cooking, but the country is starting to worry there may not be enough chefs to feed the hungry visitors.
    Gone are the days of bizarre translations of local dishes with exotic names and alarming ingredients which left foreign visitors puzzled.
    With the Beijing games only weeks away, the tourism bureau is providing restaurants with official translations for traditional Chinese dishes so the hungry hordes of Olympic guests craving a fix of "Kung Pao Chicken"
    will have some hope of getting diced chicken fried with chili and peanuts.
    Now cookery school are training their chefs to make sure they can make the chicken dish, which is one of the most popular among foreigners, They are also being drilled in other favourites, but some fear that restricted access to the city will mean Beijing will have a shortage of cooks for the Olympics.
    Neweast School, one of the biggest schools for cooks in China made Kung Pao Chicken an obligatory subject for their students, who come from all over China. The school made sure students not only learned to make the standard version of the popular dish but they also have to learn its official name.
    Si Rui, teacher at the school, said the Olympics provided them with a great showcase and that there were many Chinese dishes which should be introduced to foreign tourists, not just Kung Pao Chicken.

    "This (Olympics) offers us a platform, an opportunity to promote ourselves. It's good not only for our school, but also for Chinese cuisine in general," he said.
    Neweast School now has a mission: to scout out the best cooks for the Olympic Games, which are 24 days away. So far, there are 53 chosen from the 700 students studying at the school. But they will need more cooks, Xu Yongji, director of the school said, and they are struggling to find them.
    Due to the increased restrictions on non-residents entering Beijing, the school has been recruiting students from outside the capital, according to Xu.

    "We are being affected. Beijing is restricting the amount of none Beijing residents who can enter the city during the games. Most of the schools inside the third ring road have been told to go on vacation. Many students have called us to ask if we are going to close down during the games."
    Xu said that due to the restrictions the school will be missing more than 300 students which they had reckoned on for the summer.
    Cao Yujie, a student from China's northeastern Shandong Province, was chosen to work as an Olympic cook. He said he was glad he came to Beijing before the restrictions were enforced.
    So far from "too many cooks spoiling the broth" at the Olympics, China looks like it might not have enough broth to go round.
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