With great power comes great responsibility - Chef Andre Chiang talks Taiwanese cuisine. 

Taiwan is a small island with big dreams and Chef Andre is making his impact felt across the region. Bringing true farm to table creativity, we learn some local lessons about how history, nature, and local identity have played a role in shaping the future of Taiwanese cuisine.

Interview: ANDRE CHIANG

Taiwan’s cuisine has always been underestimated. I’ve always thought about being Taiwanese and travelling all around the world, spending most of my time overseas,..about how I can highlight all the great stuff that we have here.

Whether it’s the people, or the produce, or the culture...I feel that being Taiwanese, I have a responsibility to have something in Taiwan that really defined our generation of Taiwanese flavor.

As you can see it started away from the menu, how we started [simple], just with the ingredients. It’s just 3 ingredients. It’s really a straightforward combination and highlights all the great produce that we have in the season.

Geographically, we are in a great position,..whether for our seafood or agriculture, you don’t need to have fancy ingredients. They are all humble ingredients and they are in the best condition.

If you look at the same produce in a different perspective, it becomes something brand new. We could have a green pea for dessert and we can have peanut butter with sea urchin for the 1st course. That really changes your perspective of what is good..and every component, every flavor is like a dot. There are certain combinations that you [can] relate to your past. So once you combine that flavor together and you naturally relate it to “this is something I’ve tasted before”..”I’ve had this somewhere.” So that’s something that we really like to highlight.

What we do is just bring these great things great things together. It’s a responsibility and it’s a passion, to cuisine.