700 chefs cook up a storm at charity gala dinner

The seventh Charity Gala Dinner was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last night, drawing some 700 chefs from 22 different countries and regions to raise funds for the underprivileged, including the elderly, mentally disabled and subdivided flat residents.

The event was held in Hong Kong for the first time after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

More than 2,000 representatives from different sectors, including the 700 chefs, brought the dinner participants to a record high.

Officials, including Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung attended the gala dinner.

Among the 700 chefs, more than 400 were from overseas and paid nearly HK$30,000 each for flight tickets, hotels and other expenses in Hong Kong.

This year, the event successfully raised HK$10 million, which will be donated to a mainland disaster relief fund and three local social welfare organizations - Western Garden Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, Hong Kong Joint Council of Parents of the Mentally Handicapped, and P. C. Lee OneSky Global Centre for Early Childhood Development.

The co-chairman of the event, Hui Mei-tak, said he hoped the event would be a success.

The set menu for the dinner last night included six dishes combining Hong Kong and special overseas ingredients. It was drawn up by a dozen chefs after more than six rounds of revisions, and each dish was uniquely designed, Hui said.

His favorite dish, honey glazed barbecued pork and suckling pig with pineapple, which is a rare combination, was cooked with pig fat and roasted pineapple giving the dish a unique sweet and sour taste adding flavor to the dish, he explained.

Another co-chairman of the event Yau Kam-wing said: "the main objective of the event is to unite Chinese chefs from all over the world to promote Chinese cuisine and spread chef's love to the world." The 400 overseas chefs also prepared lunch boxes at Food Angel and distributed 2,000 goodie bags to the underprivileged.

They also plan to visit the Chinese Culinary Institute, Hong Kong Disneyland, take a cruise on the Victoria Harbour, and watch the daily light and sound show, A Symphony of Lights at the Victoria Harbour.

One of the participants, a Chiuchow cuisine chef, surnamed Liu from Shanwei, Guangdong Province, said most Chinese cuisine originated from Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong chefs were popular all over the world, but only large restaurants could afford to hire them in the past, so it was very prestigious to be able to hire Hong Kong chefs."

"In fact, many of our dishes are taught by Hong Kong chefs, so it is quite meaningful for chefs from all over the world to gather in Hong Kong to participate in this event."