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He wanted to be the first Han Chinese chef in the indigenous banqueting world, but became a PhD who studied in Germany; Wu Chin-yi wears yet another hat - Amis French cuisine chef

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He wanted to be the first Han Chinese chef in the indigenous banqueting world, but became a PhD who studied in Germany; Wu Chin-yi wears yet another hat - Amis French cuisine chef

The appetizer is a bouquet of dried flowers lying in the snow (leaves of rakkyo, asparagus fern and enoki mushrooms); the betel leaf bread arrives with dried betel leaf sheaths; the salad features twelve kinds of wild vegetables and fruits vying to outshine one another; the stock used for the risotto has more than a dozen wild vegetables giving themselves up to it; the tomahawk pork chop is paired with sword bean mash and red-stemmed betel leaves; and for the cold soup, begonia stems and oranges join forces.

The seven or eight early-summer dishes served at the French restaurant Aredetay all submit to one creed of the palate: the sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and astringent flavors of Amis cuisine. With this French restaurant opened in Taibalang, Guangfu, Hualien, Wu Chin-yi not only wants to promote Amis cuisine and share the cultural threads behind indigenous ingredients, but also harbors the ambition of establishing Amis cuisine as a distinctive culinary tradition.

Bound into a bouquet with dried rakkyo leaves, asparagus fern and enoki mushrooms, the appetizer Aredetay serves is delicate and elegant. (Photo by Yang Yu-yun)

Wu Chin-yi has many titles: PhD from the Technical University of Munich, secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Urban and Rural Development, research scholar on national spatial planning for the Council of Agriculture, chief advisor on environmental landscape for the Hualien County Government, and more. He has keen insight into national spatial planning and development, and has also brought in the experience of regional revitalization from Japan and Germany, yet none of these titles and specialties is anywhere close to "owner of an Amis French cuisine restaurant."

The planning ideas Wu Chin-yi put forward after absorbing foreign experience are a distance measured in light years from Taiwan's current situation. This inevitably makes one wonder: is opening a restaurant his way of putting down local roots after returning to Hualien? Or has he given up on being a scholar who can only lament that "one hates iron for not becoming steel," and decided to pragmatically open a restaurant to make a living?

Aredetay, opened by national spatial planning scholar Wu Chin-yi in Taibalang, Guangfu, Hualien, is a base for promoting Amis culinary culture. (Photo by Yang Yu-yun)

Taking Ina as his godmother, learning the tastes of the Amis through banqueting

Born in the bustling district in front of Zhongli Railway Station, Wu Chin-yi is a true Hakka son, and his family worships the Third Prince Lords of Kaizhang Shengwang and the Guan Sheng Di Jun and Crown Prince of Zhenlian Piang Tiangong. Just as his studies and specialties have nothing to do with food and beverage, his family of origin is also far removed from Amis culture.

His connection with Hualien began at National Dong Hwa University. Though he was studying at the Institute of Natural Resources Management, Wu Chin-yi took many courses on ethnic relations and followed Professor Yu Te-hui in conducting fieldwork in Taibalang, Guangfu. He not only took the tribe's Ina as his godmother; after being discharged from military service, feeling that the city "is not a place for people to live," he simply moved to Hualien and made a living in the tribe alongside his godmother, who ran banquets.

Wu Chin-yi's Hakka mother was such a skilled cook that she could cater banquets. He grew up steeped in this environment and was the only one of the three brothers who could help as a little assistant. Carrying this sense of culinary appreciation grown into his DNA, Wu Chin-yi ran banquets with his godmother in Taibalang, handling the front-of-house for the feasts and occasionally helping in the kitchen. The labor in the tribe allowed him to accumulate knowledge and skills in Amis cuisine, as well as an identity and attachment that grew into his very bones and blood.

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