A team of Taiwanese confectionery chefs put in the country’s best-ever performance at the Mondial des Arts Sucrés (MDAS) in Paris Monday by winning the Team Spirit award.
The competition required two contestants from each team to complete seven tasks in two days within a total granted time of 20 hours. The seven types they prepared were an ice cream pie, a coffee entremet, coffee, ice cream, sugar sculpture, and chocolate, and an artistic creation of the competitor’s choice.
“It felt great to hold up the national flag after winning a prize in an international competition,” Wang Chia-cheng (王家承), one of the chefs on the Taiwan team, told CNA.
Wang said that sculpting sugar and making chocolate were both challenging, especially creating sugar sculptures, which require heating sugar to 170 degrees Celsius.
“If the sugar gets onto your hand, it’s impossible to shake it off, so you try to get it off with your other hand, and that’s when you get burned again,” he said.
“Sometimes you have to bear the heat while presenting your preparations. You can’t let go no matter how hot it is,” Wang added.
Tung Yi-ching (童怡靜), originally the team’s assistant, was enlisted to compete on short notice.
She thanked her team and family for calming her nerves and attributed the team’s performance to resilience, teamwork, and the ability to improvise.
One of the Taiwan team’s coaches, identifying as just “Lulu,” said she launched an online crowdfunding campaign for the team to be able to compete in the competition.
She said she had set a goal of NT$200,000 for the campaign and ultimately raised more than NT$1.4 million from more than 800 donors.
“One of the benefits of a crowdfunding campaign is that it helps to boost the visibility of contestants so that more people could follow their journeys,” she said.
She thanked everyone who contributed, saying they had given the team a chance to pursue their dream and compete for the top prize.
Although first place proved elusive, the experience had brought them one step closer to the championship, she said.
Another of the team’s coaches, Yang Chia-ming (楊嘉明), said that the two contestants both had day jobs and practiced after work for four straight months.
Wang and Tung’s hard work had not gone unnoticed by the jury.
MDAS Jury President Philippe Segond told CNA that he was impressed by Tung’s fighting spirit despite having been tapped to compete less than 10 days before the competition.
Wang, on the other hand, was very confident and demonstrated remarkable team spirit, Segond said, adding that these were the reasons why the jury had decided to give them the Team Spirit award.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel