Opting for a career in the food service industry is increasingly popular among young people.
The spring semester at Kai Ping Culinary School in Taipei City is always an exciting occasion. As the institution’s students prepare for graduation, they are faced with a final challenge to gauge their preparedness for working in the food service industry. Divided into teams, they must run their own restaurants in the community for a day. The task always presents some unexpected challenges, Kai Ping’s Vice Principal Howard Hsia (夏豪均) said, such as food being returned or sent to the wrong tables. “But it’s a chance to experience firsthand what the business is really like.”
Kai Ping has an important role to play in building Taiwan’s talent base for an industry that relies on teamwork. “We attach equal importance to teaching technical cooking skills and effective communication,” Hsia said. In 2007, the institution switched from an all-purpose vocational high school to one dedicated to the food service industry. This makes it unique among the 120 high schools across Taiwan that teach related subjects.
Kai Ping’s Vice Principal Howard Hsia, left, is served at one of the school’s training restaurants. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
First-year students at Kai Ping study for a basic-level certificate from the Skill Evaluation Center in the Workforce Development Agency under the Ministry of Labor. The would-be cooks and food technicians can then move on to gain higher-level qualifications as they progress and accumulate work experience.
The school’s pupils can also earn licences in food safety assessment systems including the domestic Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and international standard ServSafe. Furthermore, graduates are entitled to apply for junior and station chef certificates from Paris-headquartered World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS), which comprises more than 100 member groups around the globe including Taiwan Chefs Association based in the central city of Taichung.
In 2015, Kai Ping became the first school in Taiwan included in the WACS’s Worldchefs Recognition of Quality Culinary Education program, and it remains the only secondary establishment among the nearly 100 members. “Being part of the initiative provides our learners with an opportunity to gain an international perspective,” Hsia said.
National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism President Pearl Lin, beige jacket, joins a class at the school’s campus in southern Taiwan. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
Further Training
Around one-third of Kai Ping’s graduates choose to continue their studies through tertiary education. A top domestic option is National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (NKUHT) in the southern Taiwan metropolis. The two institutions have built a close working relationship, which includes jointly entering students for international competitions.
Around 7 percent of the university’s more than 5,000 students are from overseas, with Indonesia and Malaysia accounting for over half of enrollees followed by China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. “We offer complete curriculums from bachelor to doctoral level,” NKUHT President Pearl Lin (林玥秀) said.
NKUHT has received recognition from Australia-based International Centre of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education, becoming one of the first institutions thus accredited in Asia. “Earning this honor helps elevate the status of vocational schooling,” Lin said. “It also gives our pupils access to exchanges with first-class international academic organizations.”
Students try their hands at making chocolate truffles, one of the many skills NKUHT teaches trainee chefs. (Photos by Pang Chia-shan)
Outside the vocational education system, high school graduates can opt to study subjects related to the hospitality industry at academic institutions like Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City. “Our students can learn about food service administration while also picking up basic culinary skills,” said Ko Wen-hwa (柯文華), head of the university’s Department of Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management in the College of Human Ecology.
Like undergraduates at NKUHT, the students in Ko’s department at Fu Jen must complete an extended external internship either in Taiwan or overseas. A popular destination is Japan, with the department sending six to eight interns each year to locations run by the Tokyo-headquartered Prince Hotels chain. Other partners operate in France, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand and the U.S. “Working in different food cultures and markets provides an education that can’t be replicated on campus,” Ko said. “On the industry side, these programs ensure incoming talent has a greater appreciation for different flavors and a willingness to keep learning and improving.”
High Flyers
An enthusiasm for innovation has made Taiwan chefs perennial contenders for international cooking awards. NKUHT students, for example, earned first prizes in 2019 at the WorldSkills Competition held in Russia, China International Culinary Arts Competition and Culinaire Malaysia with the latter two both being WACS-recognized events. This success owes much to students’ embrace of what NKUHT’s Lin dubs “glocalization”—tailoring creations according to both local and international tastes. Her students are inspired by famous Taiwan baker Wu Pao-chun (吳寶春), who is renowned for using dried longan from the southern city of Tainan to make Western-style bread.
Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City gives students studying related subjects an option to train in the food service industry outside of the vocational education system. (Photos courtesy of Department of Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management, Fu Jen Catholic University)
Success on the world stage for the country’s culinary artists has seen the chef lifestyle cross over into popular culture, Lin said, citing the 2013 comedy film “Zone Pro Site,” which follows chefs and their apprentices as they compete in traditional outdoor banquets, a popular way to celebrate festive events such as weddings in Taiwan. The art of table setting—known as “pan toh” in the Holo language—has since been revived among younger generations, who together with graduates from schools such as Kai Ping, NKUHT and Fu Jen are driving the recent resurgence of Taiwan-style dining.
According to Lin, it is no surprise that more and more youngsters are turning to the food service industry as successful chefs get to display both skill and creativity, with a finger firmly on the pulse of the latest flavor and style trends. This makes for an attractive proposition in a world where everyone is looking for the next big social media craze, she said.
Kai Ping’s Hsia argues that there is a timeless quality to cookery owing to its combination of manual and social skills. “Chefs must know the scientific theory behind what they’re doing, like why something will burn or set,” he said. “But it’s only through really understanding the wants and needs of diners, while also having a flair for creativity, that a cook can reach the pinnacle of the profession.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw