Chongqing girl who promotes Chinese food in London

The fifth London? Chinese Food Festival? with Tower Bridge as the backdrop, attracted many visitors. Photo by the interviewee

There are many national food festivals in London, including the Japanese Food Festival, the Korean Food Festival and the Malaysian Food Festival? But surprisingly, there is no Chinese food festival, so my partner and I had the idea of starting a Chinese food festival. We want foreigners to get to know Chinese food better. Tang Shi, founder of the London Chinese Food Festival, told CYN? CYCN reporter said.

Born in 1989, Tang Shi has an innate love for food. Her father, Tang Shabo, has spent his life focusing on the study of food culture and is the president of the Chongqing Chinese Food Culture Research Association. Before retiring, he worked as a food feature program for Chongqing Television, and has a love affair with food. Tang Shi grew up following her father? Eating all over the world? s influence was subtle. While studying in the UK, Tang Shi became a food blogger, and she opened her own blog on Sina, "Food in the UK". Food in the UK? s Weibo account, which has more than 80,000 followers.

In 2014, after completing her second master's degree at Warwick Business School in the UK, Tang Shi traveled to London to look for entrepreneurial opportunities. At a party, she met another like-minded ? foodie? Tang Zimu, the two of them hit it off and decided to start a Chinese food festival in London.

The two decided to start a Chinese food festival in London. Always at the forefront of cultural exchange

With a passion, the two young people began preparations for the festival. As no one has any experience, they can only feel the stone to cross the river, everything from scratch. They went to the London borough government to consult the qualifications needed to organize large-scale activities, looked for suitable venues in various parts of London, and went door-to-door to invite the owners of Chinese restaurants in London to participate. It took a lot of time to research the local food laws and regulations, and a lot of money to set up the event venue, as well as security, utilities, tents and food hygiene. Every detail needed to be put in place. The most unimaginable difficulty was convincing the Chinese restaurant owners to participate in the festival. 90% of them reacted coldly when they heard about such a large-scale event. They didn't believe that two young men in their 20s, who had no experience in the restaurant business and no restaurant of their own, would be able to pull off such a large-scale event.

On what basis? Is the two young people hear the most? The two young men have heard the most questions. Eating is always at the forefront of cultural exchange. I believe that in an international city like London, the Chinese Food Festival will be a great opportunity for the public to learn more about the Chinese food industry and to learn more about how it works. I believe that in such a cosmopolitan city as London, the Chinese Food Festival will sooner or later become a cultural brand. I believe that in an international city like London, the Chinese Food Festival will become a cultural brand sooner or later," Tang Shi said. Tang Shi said.

With their tireless efforts, in September 2015, the first London? Chinese Food Festival? kicked off on the south bank of the Thames. There were 15 London Chinese food companies participating in the festival. In order to let Britons taste more authentic Chinese food, Tang Shi also specially invited food businesses from Chongqing to exhibit in London. Authentic Chongqing small noodles, hot and sour noodles and other Chongqing local snacks for the first time? broke into? British people's field of vision, let the British people praised.

The second edition of the? Chinese Food Festival? already had some popularity in London. That year, they moved the festival to Pottersfield Park, next to London's landmark Tower Bridge. TimeOut magazine, the London Evening Standard, the Metro and other local lifestyle media have all written about the festival. Chinese Food Festival? and local London food bloggers competed for a spot on the ? Photo Wall Facebook? and other social media platforms. Chinese Food Festival and other social media platforms. The food at the festival was? The Chinatown Egg Chai? It became an Internet sensation overnight, with diners queuing up for two hours to get their hands on it. The photo of them holding the egg rolls with the Tower Bridge in the background was once widely circulated on social networking sites. That year, the two young men welcomed the festival's first sponsor? A local British food website.

The third Chinese Food Festival took a new step up in style and scale, with the British Institute of Traditional Chinese Culture, the Chongqing Hot Pot Association, and the Chongqing Chinese Food Culture Research Association coming to support the event, and 10 hot-pot companies frying up hot-pot bases and hosting Chongqing hot-pot tastings under Tower Bridge. Many merchants took the initiative to send emails to the organizers, hoping to open stalls in the food festival. They not only reversed the ? difficult to attract business? s predicament, but also can be carefully selected from the merchants who signed up to participate. Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other flavorful restaurants from all over China joined the festival, Hunan fried stinky tofu, Xi'an meat buns, Yunnan rice noodles, Taiwan beef noodles, Chongqing noodles and other specialties to make all kinds of skin color? Eaters of all colors were pleasantly surprised. The Chinese Food Festival is the first of its kind in China. The Chinese Food Festival has also become an important event for some businesses that are preparing to open their own stores. It has also become a springboard for some businessmen who are ready to open stores to test the waters of the UK market. It's obviously a smart move to debut at the festival, test your products and do enough publicity before you officially open your business.

Showing the beauty of China's food culture

Tang Shi's impression of the fourth Chinese food festival is probably the hottest. Due to the extraordinarily good weather, the number of guests patronizing the food festival was also particularly high. In just three days, the number of local residents, foreign tourists and international students who came to taste Chinese food added up to roughly 40,000 to 50,000 people. But even so, they still lost money after the year was over. In fact, we had been losing money for the first four years. The sponsorships we pulled in, as well as the booth fees we collected from the catering companies, were far from enough to cover the costs of tents, security, cleaning, etc. The good thing is that each year the losses have been decreasing. Last year when we ran the fifth food festival, the company we have been working with for a long time gave us a price cut, and we finally broke even.? Tang Shi said.

While each food festival is held for only three days, however, they spend the first half of the year doing preparations. Tang Shi said the preparations were so hard that she had to rest for a long time to slow down after each event. The losses and labor made Tang Shi? ve thought of giving up many times? But whenever she saw the crowds at the festival, the excited faces of foreign diners when they tasted Chinese food, and when they called their friends to come and taste Chinese food, she felt that it was all worth it. everything is worth it?

Letting foreigners know more about the Chinese culture behind the food is what Tang Shi has always remembered? the original intention. The food festival is a platform for food exchange as well as cultural exchange. Showing the beauty of Chinese food and culture to foreigners is what I find most meaningful and what I want to do the most?

From the first food festival, the two young people have been brainstorming how to show the charm of Chinese culture beyond the sense of taste to foreigners as well. Entertainment activities such as dragon and lion dances, Chinese costume performances or calligraphy demonstrations are an indispensable part of every food festival. Diners can dress up in Chinese costumes and enjoy the joys of the ancient Chinese literati with a brush and ink. Temporary kitchens have been set up next to the food stalls, and chefs from Chinese food schools are on hand to teach and demonstrate the wonders of Chinese cooking in an interactive way that allows those interested in Chinese food to experience the wonders of Chinese cooking in practice.

The fifth London? Chinese Food Festival? was also assisted by the Tourism Office of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism in London. Staff from the Tourism Office were on hand to show? Beautiful China? The staff of the Tourism Office showed videos, distributed souvenirs with Chinese characteristics, and made related tourism promotions, so that diners from all over the world could learn about the Chinese landscape through the food map and were encouraged to embark on a journey of discovery to explore the beautiful China. The Tourism Office prepared hundreds of panda fans and sent them free of charge to children who came to the food festival. The children especially liked them and chased after me to ask for them, which made me feel very proud.? Tang Shi said.

This year, affected by the epidemic, the? Chinese Food Festival? along with other events in London, was put on pause. However, Tang Shi already has plans and visions for next year's festival.? Using more modern technology to bring more interaction and experience while tasting the food.? She also wants to open a food academic forum to introduce Chinese food more professionally from the perspective of health and wellness and to attract more professional foodies.