The University of York has hosted chefs from Zheijang and Nanjing universities in a Chinese banquet as part of a Chef Exchange with the two Chinese universities.
The event was the first full ‘exchange’ of the University’s International Chef Exchange Programme since it launched in 2011. “Key Members” of the University of York assembled in the Roger Kirk Centre last Friday for a Chinese Banquet, catered for by chefs representing York, Zheijang and Nanjing.
University employees, from academics to administrative staff, were invited and enjoyed a varied menu, including dumplings, tomato and egg soup, a whole steamed river fish per table, crispy beef, kun poa chicken and sudan pork, all freshly prepared by the chefs from all three universities.
YUSU President Kallum Taylor was in attendance, greatly enjoying the food but not making the most of the free drinks, saying: “I won’t be drinking, I’m on the water! I’ve got a football match in a few hours’ time and want to be on top form.”
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, John Local, who organised the banquet, commented: “This event began quite a long time ago, when the International Office thought that it would be good for key members of the University, not just academics, to go on international visits.
On the visit, we experienced some really interesting things about Chinese universities and from that we got the enthusiasm to develop what you see today, by working with chefs from China and York.
“York is renowned for having fantastic chefs and in China we had the most amazing banquets. I am sure that today we will have the same experience, there is not another university in the UK who is doing anything like this.”
Taylor commented: “It’s really great to see the University making an active effort to fuse together cultures, even on their services front. The Chef Exchange scheme seems to have been a success story so far, which for the first of its kind looks good for York.”