(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-25 14:30

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong has proved ideal for learning new techniques and inspiring creative ideas in cooking, thanks to the trend of fusing eastern and western flavors going global, a cuisine training center director said.

"Due to historical reasons, Hong Kong blends eastern and western culture. We have different styles of cuisine here, from Hong Kong-style teahouses to world-class restaurants," Lawrence Wong, director of the Chinese Cuisine Training Center in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in South China, said Tuesday.

The Fun Kitchen, a program launched in 2003 by the training center and tailored to the needs of overseas students, has seen the number of overseas students enrollment grow six-fold in as many years to about 600, Wong told a government news website.

He said he expected enrollment in the program to further soar in a period to come.

"Hong Kong is an international city. Chinese cuisine here is unique. People can sample cuisine with diversified delights and experience a combination of eastern and western flavors here. People abroad are eager to know more about Chinese culinary culture," he was quoted as saying.

Participants in the program include cooking school students and professionals from the world's catering and hotel industries. They learn to make dimsum and other traditional dishes under the guidance of a chef instructor, and try their hand at Chinese cooking with the assistance of trainees in the 4-hour intensive course.

Twenty-one chefs from Spain and 10 chefs from a US hotel recently took the course. However, most participants are from cooking schools.

Meisei High School in Japan recently sent 90 of its students to the center.

Yumiko Kaiwa, an instructor in Meisei's cooking department, said only basic Chinese dishes were made in Japan, prompting her to enroll her students in the course.

"I found Hong Kong the best choice because we can find different Chinese cuisine here, such as Cantonese, Shanghai and Beijing styles. Students can taste and learn the different varieties," Kaiwa said.

Student Saori Takahashi said the course enhanced her interest in Chinese cooking and she hopes to return again to learn more, proving interest in studying at the center.

Wong said he was looking to prolong the program's training hours and would study the long-term possibility of extending enrolment in its formal training programs to overseas students by adjusting the curriculum and facilities.