Guangdong Art for your palate!

Guangdong 'descended' on Tianjin for a day last month with the arrival of the Guangdong Cuisine festival and left a wonderful taste in the mouth for many. It was a truly visual feast with row upon row of exquisite works-of-art in complicated shapes and colors and all completely made from food.

The festival began with a bang with a rousing welcome for city officials and guests by a smart 30-piece band and lovely hostesses, all in a row, draped in the traditional red `qipau.?And then it was off to view the many splendid things on show.

Each piece was carefully planned and delicately carved by the food artists who must have spent hours molding their creations to perfection. A wonderful example of this were the 13 `master pieces?which included depictions of a Han Dynasty warrior atop his battle horse, the Great Wall and a Dragon door design.

A wide variety of foods were used in the making of the artistic pieces. Vegetables and fruits were the common foods with numerous pieces shaped from red and green melons, taro, white gourds and radishes. However there were also truly exotic pieces made from cat meat, frog meat, snake and scorpions. According to Guangdong `ren? these foods are commonly seen on banquet tables in the south. To make the more elaborate designs, food colouring, toothpicks and even small sticks used to make the designs seem "real".

Other notable displays included `Turtle? White Lotus Seed Shrimp?Liver Fish in a Wave,?green Lake Fisherman with Three Shrimp Boats,?and green Leaf Lobster Balls?

We were well and truly amazed at the designs, kudos to all the artists, a job well done. We definitely did not envy the judges who had their work cut out for them as every entry deserved a prize of some sort (we think!).

It was a morning well spent, admiring the designs but walking table to table, we grew quite tired and hungry (of course!). After drooling over the food, we decided we needed to satisfy our empty stomachs and go for a great big lunch!

Want to witness Chinese cooking before your own eyes? Come to our next Chinese Cooking Festival. Sign up before Sept. 15th. Contact at:23120725/23120679 (ATTN: Flora)