Kung Hei Fat Choi

The HKCA wishes you a prosperous New Year of the Rat

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Current Articles

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Hong Kong Team nabs Runner Up title in Sapporo Snow Sculpting

The 35th International Snow Sculpture Contest

14 teams, from various regions of the world, have participated in this year’s contest. The contest site filled with a variety of snow statues has created a remarkable international atmosphere. The participants and the public have enjoyed positive cultural exchanges and have developed new friendships. Here is the result of the championship: The winning team is Thailand, with Hong Kong Nabbing the runner up title, followed by Japan with the Third Prize.

For more information about the competition and other teams, please  follow this link: http://www.snowfes.com/english/contest/index.html

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Taste -- By Christopher Gallaga

January 31, 2008

Every once in a while, one flavor (pun intended) or another of the MSG little food hysteria, rears its ugly head in my direction. It did so recently via email so I thought I would shed some light here for all interested.

Full disclosure: I am a professional chef, and I have lived and worked in Hong Kong for some 14 years now. And, although I don’t use refined MSG as an ingredient in my cooking it is certainly in many of the ingredients I cook with (same as you). In fact that intense flavor is exactly what I was looking to create in my current menu items "OMG Bolognese" and "24-hour prime rib steak". And any chef worth their salt (pun intended) is trying to create abundant quantities of it when they make a rich stock or consomme.  

But what is it anyway? MSG is the salt form of glutamic acid, which is an amino acid and the flavor compound responsible for the meaty or savory flavor known as Umami. Glutamates occur naturally in proteins and most aged foods including such things as meats, poultry, fish, cheese, tomatoes, legumes, mushrooms, seaweed, tofu, and fermented sauces (like soy, Worcestershire, Balsamic, and steak sauce). Interestingly Roquefort or Parmesan cheeses actually have significantly more (10% to 40% more) free glutamate than any soy sauce. Those fermented yeast spreads (like Vegemite) have nearly twice the MSG, not added, but occurring naturally during the fermentation process. 

MSG was discovered and identified in 1866 by German scientist Karl Heinrich Leopold Ritthausen. In 1907 a Japanese researcher Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University identified brown crystals left behind after the evaporation of seaweed broth (then commonly used as a food flavoring agent) as glutamic acid. These crystals, when tasted, reproduced the flavor found in many foods, most especially in seaweed. Professor Ikeda termed this flavor Umami, a Japanese word meaning "savory" or "deliciousness." Since its discovery the science and the culinary field alike have accepted Umami as a fifth distinct basic taste.

Due to its relative newness and possibly also it’s foreign source (Japan), MSG has been intensely studied. After thorough investigation MSG is listed among the safest food additives by the EU, WHO and USFDA.  None of the claims of its ill effects have ever been anything more than anecdote that fails at the slightest scientific inquiry.

The most recent claim circulating via email regarding the evils of MSG is that it has been found to cause obesity in rats. In researching, I did find two studies (one from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, and another from the Slovak Academy of Sciences) which both used MSG to instigate overeating & thus obesity, in rats, but these did not study the mechanism, rather just note the use as an instigator. It is jumping to far to assume that MSG is the cause of the obesity.  Further an epidemiological survey by the Honolulu Heart Program on MSG consumption in humans that did not show any correlation between MSG use and obesity, or any other serious disease. 

On the other hand a study in 2006 by the University of Helsinki did show a strong correlation between salt (sodium chloride) consumption and obesity in humans. However, the researchers of that study surmised that the higher salt content of the diets caused more thirst and in turn more drinking of higher calorie beverages. So in an excellent example of why correlation does not equal causation, it was not the salt that caused obesity, but calories from the drinks used to quench the thirst caused by the salt. 

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Unilever 50 Years and HKCA Cookbook Launch

On December 4, 2007, top chefs in Hong Kong and food industry leaders gathered in a special event to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Knorr in Hong Kong. The night-long event turned out to be a memorable night for everyone who participated.

One of the highlights of the event was the launch of the cookbook entitled “A Blend of Western Know-how and Eastern Mastery”. 50 famous chefs, 25 each from both Chinese and Western cuisines, were brought together to share their favourite good food recipes.

It is no easy job to look for the top chefs in Hong Kong. Thanks to The Hong Kong Chefs Association and Hong Kong Chinese Chefs Association for helping us invite the chefs. Although some were limited by company policies, we had the full support from chefs who were eager to contribute in this meaningful project.

The 50 participating chefs enjoyed the limelight very much. A professional photographer was hired to take shots of the 50 signature dishes and 50 chef portraits. Most of the chefs’ shots were taken inside the kitchen portraying their day-to-day activities. All those shots were so candid that even the chefs loved them. We chose the best shot to be featured in the cook book, and made a personalized photo album for each of the 50 chefs as a remembrance for the wonderful experience they had.  

Each cookbook is sold at 380 HKD. Net proceeds from the cookbook sale deducting printing expenses will be donated to Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children. The kids from the charitable organization had a culinary theme performance during the gala dinner.

In order to raise funds for charity, we had an auction during the gala dinner. The auction was well-received by the guests. Three successful bidders were able to bid three signed copies of cookbooks with the highest bid of 23,000 HKD.

To end the night in a memorable way, celebrity Eliza Chen performed a series of songs and interacted with the chefs. Guests were awed as Western chefs danced playfully with Eliza and Chinese chefs sang along with her.

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Cloned food? Not in our kitchens, Chefs say

Source: Yahoo News

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian Thu Jan 31, 9:06 AM ET

MILAN (Reuters) - If pizza maker Simone Padoan saw a slab of cloned meat in his local supermarket, the Italian chef says he would be too scared to bring it into his kitchen.

Despite statements by Europe's food agency and the main U.S. health agency that cloned food products are safe to eat, Padoan says he won't be serving them in his pizzeria, but will instead make dough from natural ingredients and serve natural beer.

"I would be afraid to use it. Maybe (milk from cloned cows) is healthier than milk that comes from a cow born naturally ... but all this manipulation scares me," he said.

"At least natural products guarantee a natural aspect -- this is how they are, this is how mother nature made them and I promote them for that."

Cloning has been around for years. Dolly the cloned sheep was born in 1996.

But the move by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month to lend its support to meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring is likely to mean it will soon enter the food supply.

Europe's top food safety agency has also said cloned food products are safe to eat, but has yet to give the green light to marketing cloned food products to consumers.

Chefs at a culinary forum in Milan with Padoan this week said no such products would be appearing in their menus.

"I wouldn't consider it with the knowledge I've got now," said British chef Heston Blumenthal, famed for his scientific approach to cooking.

"We don't know if they're damaging or what damage they do not only to ourselves but also the environment."

SEND IN THE CLONES?

Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose cloning, which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others before implanting them in a surrogate mother.

They say scientists do not know enough about its effect on nutrition and biology.

Advocates of livestock cloning say the technology will help produce more milk and lean, tender meat by creating more disease-resistant animals. They insist it is perfectly safe.

Milan chef Carlo Cracco said he would want to know where the cloned animal had come from and how it had been raised.

"Already we have difficulty with normal products that are controlled from start to finish. Can you imagine with these new ones?" he said.

For pastry chef Frederic Bau, using cloned milk in desserts is not even a consideration: "I don't dare even think about it."

It is believed that it will be years before cloning will be widely used and despite the official safety approvals, it may be consumers who determine how widely it is used.

The European Food Safety Authority has opened a consultation process with member states and industry until February 25 before giving its final opinion in May.

(Editing by Chris Johnson)

Invitation

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