Chef Theresa Lin with Regina Varolli
On May 2nd, TECO-NY held a press conference to introduce culinary star chef Theresa Lin, complimented as “The Julia child of Taiwan” by Director Ang Lee‘s movie of Eat Drink Man Woman, with her participation during Lucky Rice Festival where Theresa will present many mouth-watering Taiwanese gourmet including “Grand Feast” at the Mandarin Oriental on 5/4 and “Talk and Taste” at the French Culinary Institute on 5/6.
Chef Theresa Lin's beautiful plating and delicious food
The press conference started with Taiwan Tourism introducing Theresa Lin and played a movie to showcase some traditional Taiwanese food including night market snacks. After the presentation, Theresa and Regina Varolli, a featured food blogger on Huffington Post, held an interesting and fun talk regarding all types of Taiwanese cuisine, food origins and the unique culture. After the 2 hours presentation and talk, all the media and guests got to enjoy the amazing food prepared by Theresa including San-bei-ji (Three-cup Chicken) and Wu-wei Xiao-juan (Squid with Taiwanese Five-flavor Sauce).
Squid with Taiwanese Five-flavor Sauce
Three-cup Chicken)
Theresa Lin was born in Tainan, Taiwan, and graduated from Fu-Jen Catholic University with a major in French. She is broadly popular throughout the worldwide Chinese community as the author of 16 seminal cookbooks in Chinese, which are distributed generally throughout Asia and in Chinese-language bookstores around the world.
Her popularity became fame through her role as the executive food designer of the hit film Eat Drink Man Woman, which won an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Film. She is frequently invited abroad to demonstrate Chinese Cooking Art in many venues, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, and I.T.B. Berlin, and is consecutively invited for three years to demonstrate in the Philadelphia Food Festival “The Book and The Cook,” in which she has won popular acclaim.
Lin hosts talk shows “Eat Drink Man Woman” (weekly) and “What’s Cooking” (daily) at KAZN AM 1300 radio station for 10 years in Los Angeles. In addition, she also hosts a cooking demonstration program on Power TV Cable Channel, Local TV Channel 18, and HK Jade Channel (TVB). She has been dedicated herself in the Asian Community to help cultures exchanging and has been voluntarily as interpreter for asylum at the immigration court; also doing lots of charity fundraising for the Society.
Theresa Lin’s Squid with Taiwanese Five-flavor Sauce: This dish gives squid a delicious Taiwanese twist when enjoyed with five-flavor sauce which is sweet, sour, fragrant, spicy, and salty. Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, and ocean currents flow past and converge just off the island’s coast, creating good fishing grounds and enriching Taiwan’s marine resources. Seafood has thus become an indispensable element of daily fare in Taiwan. Seafood preparation in Taiwan is influenced by traditional methods from Fujian, Guangdong, and even Japan. The emphasis is on natural flavors rather than complex seasoning, often highlighting refreshing or subtle flavor combinations. No matter if the dish is stewed, stir-fried, steamed, or boiled, seafood from Taiwan tends to be light and to use a limited variety of delicious sauces.
Theresa Lin’s three-cup chicken is a classic dish, served both in restaurants and homes in Taiwan. The term “three-cup” refers to the sauce which is prepared using one cup sesame oil, one cup soy sauce, and one cup rice wine. The chicken, together with the sauce, is cooked in an earthenware pot on high heat for ten minutes, then on low heat to allow the sauces to be absorbed by the meat. A true and authentic Taiwanese three cup chicken calls for basil leaves, the soul of the dish that lends an exotic aroma and minty nuance to the taste. This perfect combination of flavors gives this beloved chicken dish a strong aroma that never fails to stir up people’s appetite.
Taiwan Tourism Director Thomas Chang
Brian Su (Director of Press Division), chef Theresa Lin, Regina Varolli, and Thomas Chang (Director of Taiwan Tourism)
About Regina Varolli: Regina grew up in kitchens. The daughter of a restaurateur mom from Los Angeles, California and a chef-dad from Reggio Emilia, Italy, her first attempt at gastronomy was making escargot at age 6, with snails foraged from the back garden. While that didn’t work too well—everyone spit them out—she never stopped approaching food as an adventure. Today she lives in Manhattan and isn’t afraid to eat anything, or to spit out the bad stuff. Though her taste is refined by fine dining and perfect pastry, she still craves a great burger and fries, and thinks Ghirardelli instant brownie mix is fabulous. Gina recently launched her new food blog, Dov’e La Regina? , and is currently authoring three culinary titles for the 99 Series of Books.
The wonderful Taiwan Tourism team with chef Theresa Lin!
with chef Theresa Lin
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