On April 9th,2017, the fourth Gourmet Festival of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is officially open in the staff canteen at East Campus. Themed “I have a date with Sichuan cuisine”, this year the festival specially invited University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) and Southwest University of Science and Technology (SWUST) from Sichuan, bringing us a veritable taste of Sichuan cuisine culture.

Vice Party Secretary Jiang Yi delivered a warm welcome to all the chefs and supporting staff from UESTC and SWUST, and gave thanks for their effort and skills. Deng Likun hoped for a better friendship between UESTC, SWUST and USTC and progress in diet in the three schools through the festival. Then Vice President Zhou Xianyi announced the festival officially open.

The canteen is divided into various sections including UESTC&SWUST special section, self-service, Sichuan flavor, exotic cuisine, chef competition, sculpture, childhood memory and tea& coffee.

In UESTC&SWUST special section, five chefs from both schools cooked and illustrated 8 classic Sichuan dishes for the audience. The stories behind them fascinated all the spectators, and the delicious cuisines drew many foreign students with their wonderful tastes.

In the activity “Let the chef teach you to do Sichuan dishes”, many students competed in cooking Mapo tofu and fish deer with the chef showing the whole prcedure. And after careful tasting, the new chef of USTC was elected by the chefs and audience.

Every year the Exotic Cuisine is among the most popular sections, and this year it is no exception. Exchange students from Coate d'Ivoire, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Iran prepared different kinds of native specials, such as Italian salads, galli and pudding.

Childhood Memory section is newly added this year. Before the festival, students shared stories about childhood snacks online, bringing back many moving memories. Here the staff prepared aboudant snacks according to previous students’ vote for their favorite snacks. Sugar-coated haws on a stick and spicy bars attracted many students, taking photos with the snacks.

Delicate dishes from the sculpture section

Chefs from UESTC&SWUST will go on to satisfy students with delicious Sichuan foods in staff canteen, Fanghua canteen and student canteen in south campus and east campus from April 10th to April 27th. Further interactions with students includes Sichuan Dishes teaching in the staff canteen of east campus in April 15th.

The gourmet festival is developed on the basis of the traditional cooking competition, and has been held successfully for 13 years with continuous innovation and improvement. It has become a calling card for USTC, exhibiting the charm of cuisines and acting as a communication platform for the staff and students, and will go on to enrich students extracurricular activities and promote the development of catering services in USTC.