Hong Kong Students Get a Taste of Northern Ireland

SERC Chefs, Brian Magill and Thomas McCluney,  recently hosted a masterclass in traditional Irish breads in a live webinar for students at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong.

During the live demonstration, the students learnt how to make traditional Irish potato bread, soda bread and Guinness wheaten bread and how to expertly incorporate them into imaginative, restaurant quality recipes using quality, fresh local produce.

The webinar came to fruition through InvestNI’s, Yen Tan, based in their Hong Kong office who offered NI Colleges the opportunity to build a collaborative link with PolyU School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) in Hong Kong as part of its international culinary outreach programme. SHTM prepares students to work in the hospitality industry and includes an international dimension, so students have the opportunity to learn about cuisines from around the world.  

Paul Mercer, SERC’s Deputy Head of School of Hospitality and Catering said, “We were delighted to have this opportunity to work with the PolyU students to demonstrate Northern Irelands traditional lrish cuisine. This was our first “live” demonstration session and will not be the last!”  

Anny Ho, Instructor, SHTM of PolyU said, “Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, ‘Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are”.  The food one eats intricately intertwined with one’s culture, and it will be challenging to fully define a culture without a nod to one’s cuisine.  With the current pandemic and the necessity of adaptation to the new normal, the “live” cooking demonstration certainly created an alternative opportunity for our students for intercultural and global engagement.”  

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