Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) Winners of the first Tang Prize will literally get a taste of Taiwanese culture when they visit the country in September during a special dinner of creative Taiwanese gourmet.
The Tang Prize Foundation on Monday unveiled the 16 dishes that will be served to the five Tang Prize laureates, who will arrive in Taiwan next month for an award ceremony and a series of lectures and events.
Among them are jellied lamb meat, smoked grouper, crispy roast duck in taro crust, rice sprinkled with sakura shrimp and mullet roe, and a unique dish called "Tai Chi Chicken," which arranges regular, white-boned chicken and black-boned silkie chicken to form a yin yang, the symbol of balanced energy.
"There is a meaning and story behind every dish," said Patrick Su, an assistant professor of hotel management at National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, who co-designed the menu.
Chang Chen-chieh, a noted cellist who also helped design the menu, said the dishes use local ingredients and many are inspired by poetry from China's Tang dynasty (618-907).
The ingredients include willow-pine mushroom from Wufeng in Taichung; roasted duck from Yilan; giant grouper, sakura shrimp and mullet roe from Pingtung; and seaweed from Penghu, according to the Tang Prize Foundation.
The Tang poems that inspired the dishes will be recited as each one is served to the guests, Chang said.
(A fish dish inspired by works of Li Bai, a poet in the Tang dynasty)
"In addition to enjoying great food, the guests will also take home with them great memories," Su said.
The first Tang Prizes were awarded in June to five exceptional individuals who have made major contributions in sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and rule of law.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, won the prize in sustainable development; James P. Allison of the United States and Tasuku Honjo of Japan shared the prize in biopharmaceutical science; Chinese American historian Yu Ying-shih won the prize in sinology; and Albie Sachs, a former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, was named the winner of the prize in rule of law.
All of the laureates will attend the award ceremony in Taipei on Sept. 18.
They will also give lectures about their life's work across Taiwan during Tang Prize Week from Sept. 15 to 21, according to the foundation.
Tang Prize Week will also feature the banquet for the laureates at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, a concert by the Taiwan Philharmonic, and two exhibitions.
(By Christie Chen)ENDITEM/WH
