16/01/20
S.Pellegrino celebrates “Inspirational Women of the Era” in Taipei
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On January 9, S.Pellegrino hosted the grand finale of its 120-Year Anniversary celebrations with a special event at Regent Hotel Taipei, Taiwan highlighting female talents in the local and international hospitality industry, celebrating women making a difference in the culinary world.
2017 World’s Best Female Chef Ana Roš, 2016 Asia’s Best Female Chef Margarita Forés and 2017 Asia’s Best Female Chef May Chow all went on stage to talk about their secrets to success. The conversation with the internationally renowned chefs was led by Mason Florence, a native New Yorker and famous travel writer and Gladys Lee, a news anchor turned freelance media professional.
Ana Roš (Hiša Franko, Slovenia) spoke about her journey to becoming one of the most successful chefs in the world after studying diplomacy in college whilst Chef Forés highlighted gender equality in the food industry. The chef from the Philippines also pointed out the issue of male and female students’ ratio at modern culinary schools and how soon females could secure a job after graduation.
Chef May Chow, who grew up and was educated in western countries, expressed her special calling to express Chinese heritage through her art of cooking. She strives to promote an inclusive working environment for both males and females in her restaurants in Hong Kong.
S. Pellegrino also held the “Inspirational Women of the Era” award ceremony giving a symbolic award to five talented females in the Taiwanese food and beverage industry as a recognition of their efforts in reshaping the culinary scene.
The awardees included the famous chef Lan-Shu Chen (the first Asia’s 50 Best Female Chef in Taiwan), the director of Silks Palace Mandy Yang, general manager of Green & Safe Stephanie Ho, the founder of COFE Wei Ku, and the well-known gourmet, travel and lifestyle writer Yi-Lan Yeh.
To celebrate the 120th anniversary, S.Pellegrino also held a gala dinner introducing the S.Pellegrino 120th year limited edition bottle, the limited edition glass Vichy bottle featuring diamond-shaped rivets rising from the surface.
The gala dinner menu, inspired by the Italian heritage of S.Pellegrino and local culinary traditions, began with the entrées “The Journey of Water” by chef Vanessa Huang and “1899: When the Brand was Born” by chef May Chow. Chef Chow re-invented one of the classic dishes from Italy’s Lombardy region, “Vitello Tonnato”, using veal and tuna foam seasoned with Sichuan dressing.
The first main course dish, “From Italy to the World,” was by the Filipino chef Margarita Forés and combined local red snapper, crab fat from the Philippines, lemons and bottarga from Italy. The second main course dish, “Celebrating 120 years, Looking at the Future” was from World’s Best Female Chef Ana Roš. With Fu Gui rooster from Taiwan, chef Ana made a crispy chicken skin dressed with beurre blanc and caviar.
S.Pellegrino will close its 120th Anniversary celebration in great style with the Asian Gastronomy community. Enhancing female talents in the hospitality industry in particular, it recognises that the gastronomic industry can be challenging, and, in some cases, it can lack diversity. For this very reason, S.Pellegrino will be supporting Women in Gastronomy, a concept developed by Gastronauts Asia.
Read more about S.Pellegrino’s 120 Year Anniversary, the Limited Edition Bottles and S.Pellegrino’s belief in nurturing and supporting young culinary talent through S.Pellegrino Young Chef, and follow all the exciting developments in the world of gastronomy on S.Pellegrino’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
