Some Richmond chefs are getting ready to compete in an upcoming international Chinese cuisine cooking competition and aim to bring the title home.
The ninth World Championship of Chinese Cuisine (WCCC) will be held at the PNE Forum in Vancouver from May 21 to 23 – it will be the first time this international event has been held in Canada.
The competition was originally scheduled for last November but was postponed due to visa delays of participating chefs from China, according to the organizer.
As a renowned North American hub for Asian dining, Richmond will see many chefs participating in this competition this time, including Wei Lai, who's been a dim sum chef for more than 30 years.
“We are still deciding what dishes we are going to cook, whether we will choose the traditional or innovative style. It will also depend on the ingredients provided,” said Lai.
There will be individual and group competitions and Lai will compete in the latter. Each group consists of four chefs who will cook two hot dishes, two cold dishes and two desserts in the type of cuisine they select.
Groups need to cook everything within 120 minutes using the ingredients provided by the host of the competition. Individual competitors need to cook two dishes within 90 minutes.
Lai said factors that make great Chinese cuisine include the freshness of the ingredients, the taste of the dishes, their look and style as well as innovation in the food.
“For example, for great shrimp dumplings, a classic dish in Cantonese food, they need to have thin skin, fresh shrimps and be juicy,” he said.
Xuebin Chen, chef at Richmond Tasty BBQ & Beer Bar, said he is excited to participate in the competition.
Before he joined the barbecue restaurant, Chen learned and worked as a Cantonese cuisine chef for nearly two decades.
“I look forward to meeting all the great Chinese cuisine chefs from around the world at the championship,” said Chen.
“For me, it’s a great opportunity to meet and learn from other experienced chefs and broaden my knowledge in Chinese cuisine.”
He said once the organizer announces the ingredients that will be available at the competition, he and his team will discuss what dishes they will bring to compete with.
Lai said that, compared to chefs from other countries and regions, those in Richmond have their unique advantages.
“Canada is a very diverse country so we have experience serving customers from a diverse cultural background and have improved our cuisine to cater to different preferences,” said Lai.
“This is one of the reasons why the Asian food in Richmond is so popular and well-liked among a wide variety of customers.”
Lai said he is confident his team and other Richmond chefs will be bringing back trophies from the competition.
“We hope that our cuisine will receive recognition on the global stage.”
Registration deadline is March 15 for chefs from China and April 15 for those from other regions. More information can be found on wccc2024.ca and there will be a maximum of 100 teams participating in the competition.
The championship will be open to the audience and ticket information will be available soon on wccc2024.ca, according to the organizer.
Got an opinion on this story or any others in Richmond? Send us a letter or email your thoughts or story tips to [email protected]. To stay updated on Richmond news, sign up for our daily headline newsletter.
