Singapore defeats Taiwan to win "Culinary God" title

In case you haven't heard, Singapore beat Taiwan in a culinary contest at the 2005 Taipei Chinese Food Festival, to win the title of "Culinary God" (食神). Just like in the Stephen Chow (周星馳) movie, both teams pitted their culinary skills against each other to come up with an original menu, with the ingredients kept secret before the start of the contest.



Given the best local ingredients from Taiwan like Penghu crab, Yunlin black chicken, Taitung eel and Tainan lotus seeds, both teams had only four hours to prepare seven dishes. The entire process was not without its dramatic moments, with both teams racing neck and neck for each of the seven dishes. Eventually, the Singapore team won over the judges with their vegetarian white bittergourd dish to gain top honours, a great birthday present for our nation's 40th birthday