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NCKU Creative Urban Course Connects Industry, Academia, and Community: Jointly Organizes Innovative Siraya Food Feast Event
The "Creative City" course offered by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in collaboration with the Industry Innovation Studio and Chef Ting-Wei Kuo from the Michelin Green Star restaurant EMBERS, aimed at promoting cultural experiences and local creative economies. Together, they endeavored to challenge Siraya cuisine innovation. On the 6th, an innovative food feast event was held at the Muzha Community Tribal School in Neimen District, Kaohsiung, showcasing a variety of dishes using traditional ingredients from the nearby mountains. The creative presentation left attendees impressed and satisfied.
Taught by Associate Professor Hui-Wen Lin from the Department of Creative Design, the "Cultural Creative City" course comprised 15 students from diverse cultural backgrounds, including Germany, France, Paraguay, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Over the course of four months, the students conducted ethnographic fieldwork in the Neimen Muzha area, interacting with local communities, residents, and indigenous peoples, exploring and learning about the local food and agricultural culture. Through collaboration with community representatives and students, they developed stories and memories embodied in meticulously designed dishes, showcasing the unique flavors of Muzha, Neimen, blending tradition with innovation, and fostering a sensory culinary experience.
The event featured four borderless set menus created by the students, each receiving high praise. The "Your Hometown's Taste Is Up to You" set menu incorporated Muzha ingredients into healthy and flavorful chicken and roast pork rice burgers and vegetable sweet potato burgers, complemented by exquisite packaging with a hunting theme and Siraya-style dyed cloth takeaway bags. The "ETA! Time Travel" set menu translated Muzha's mountain and forest landscapes into dishes like mountain-shaped sesame oil chicken millet cake and turmeric shrimp fried rice, accompanied by cocktails and millet handmade biscuits, along with tabletop games symbolizing themes of rivers, mountains, markets, and farming, providing a delightful experience rich in perception and memory. The "On the Other Side of the Mountain, Echoes Calling Me with Your Name" set menu incorporated family stories and traditional recipes from the Muzha fields into cooking techniques from Malaysia and Thailand, presenting dishes like avocado spring rolls, mountain celery millet noodles, avocado longan coffee ice brick milk, representing memories, the sun, and love, garnering appreciation from attendees and chefs alike. The "MAHUVAR" set menu, meaning prosperity and prosperity in the Siraya language, featured dishes such as honey chicken salad, millet gin and tonic, turmeric coconut cake, and millet ginger tea, showcasing boundless creative ideas.
Associate Professor Hui-Wen Lin aimed to showcase the unique qualities of rural areas compared to cities and to practice diverse aesthetics and pass down tribal culinary wisdom. By combining field research and collecting and integrating indigenous wisdom, they applied local ingredients and resources to culinary culture and history, providing an educational and entertaining food experience. The event also aimed to enhance local cultural experiences and stimulate local creative economies through cross-cultural, cross-professional, and cross-generational participation.
Chef Ting-Wei Kuo from the Michelin Green Star restaurant EMBERS, who has long been concerned with agricultural and environmental issues, drew inspiration from local ecological diversity and multiculturalism for his cooking. He injected high-standard craftsmanship from the industry into traditional ingredients from the Muzha area. This time, he showcased Taiwan's endemic "Red Toothed Yam," blended with coarse salt, and mixed with millet dough, faithfully presented in its original form and the primitive and wild nature of the mountains and forests, allowing the unique elasticity and aroma of the "Red Toothed Yam" to shine. The "Tribal School" serves as a space for local libraries, cultural and historical workers, and artists to gather, exchange ideas, and present their works. Ms. Hui-Chi Lee, the school's director, has long been dedicated to the revival of Siraya culture and the promotion of local cultural learning and innovation, linking different local organizations for cross-sectoral exchanges.
Taught by Associate Professor Hui-Wen Lin from the Department of Creative Design, the "Cultural Creative City" course comprised 15 students from diverse cultural backgrounds, including Germany, France, Paraguay, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Over the course of four months, the students conducted ethnographic fieldwork in the Neimen Muzha area, interacting with local communities, residents, and indigenous peoples, exploring and learning about the local food and agricultural culture. Through collaboration with community representatives and students, they developed stories and memories embodied in meticulously designed dishes, showcasing the unique flavors of Muzha, Neimen, blending tradition with innovation, and fostering a sensory culinary experience.
The event featured four borderless set menus created by the students, each receiving high praise. The "Your Hometown's Taste Is Up to You" set menu incorporated Muzha ingredients into healthy and flavorful chicken and roast pork rice burgers and vegetable sweet potato burgers, complemented by exquisite packaging with a hunting theme and Siraya-style dyed cloth takeaway bags. The "ETA! Time Travel" set menu translated Muzha's mountain and forest landscapes into dishes like mountain-shaped sesame oil chicken millet cake and turmeric shrimp fried rice, accompanied by cocktails and millet handmade biscuits, along with tabletop games symbolizing themes of rivers, mountains, markets, and farming, providing a delightful experience rich in perception and memory. The "On the Other Side of the Mountain, Echoes Calling Me with Your Name" set menu incorporated family stories and traditional recipes from the Muzha fields into cooking techniques from Malaysia and Thailand, presenting dishes like avocado spring rolls, mountain celery millet noodles, avocado longan coffee ice brick milk, representing memories, the sun, and love, garnering appreciation from attendees and chefs alike. The "MAHUVAR" set menu, meaning prosperity and prosperity in the Siraya language, featured dishes such as honey chicken salad, millet gin and tonic, turmeric coconut cake, and millet ginger tea, showcasing boundless creative ideas.
Associate Professor Hui-Wen Lin aimed to showcase the unique qualities of rural areas compared to cities and to practice diverse aesthetics and pass down tribal culinary wisdom. By combining field research and collecting and integrating indigenous wisdom, they applied local ingredients and resources to culinary culture and history, providing an educational and entertaining food experience. The event also aimed to enhance local cultural experiences and stimulate local creative economies through cross-cultural, cross-professional, and cross-generational participation.
Chef Ting-Wei Kuo from the Michelin Green Star restaurant EMBERS, who has long been concerned with agricultural and environmental issues, drew inspiration from local ecological diversity and multiculturalism for his cooking. He injected high-standard craftsmanship from the industry into traditional ingredients from the Muzha area. This time, he showcased Taiwan's endemic "Red Toothed Yam," blended with coarse salt, and mixed with millet dough, faithfully presented in its original form and the primitive and wild nature of the mountains and forests, allowing the unique elasticity and aroma of the "Red Toothed Yam" to shine. The "Tribal School" serves as a space for local libraries, cultural and historical workers, and artists to gather, exchange ideas, and present their works. Ms. Hui-Chi Lee, the school's director, has long been dedicated to the revival of Siraya culture and the promotion of local cultural learning and innovation, linking different local organizations for cross-sectoral exchanges.
The NCKU Creative City course connects academia, industry, and the community to host an innovative Siraya cuisine feast.
The student-created international meal set is brimming with boundless creativity.
The students integrated unique cooking techniques into their dishes, incorporating family stories from the fields of Muzha.
