Reunion dinner on Chinese New Year’s eve is always a magnificent feast, but besides the delicious dishes served, there are many details that can actually affect the development of the world. This weekend, January 18th-19th, National Taiwan Museum's Nanmen Branch will launch "2020 Sustainable Reunion Dinner " campaign to promote a healthy and environmentally-friendly festival culture with exciting activities, such as the release of the sustainable recipe, the holding of sustainable New year market and cross-discipline forums.
"Sustainable Reunion Dinner" campaign was launched by the National Taiwan Museum since 2016. From food traceability and certification to environment-friendly ingredients, the campaign promotes the concept of ocean sustainability and teaches people to understand the crisis of marine resource shortage from an everyday perspective. The most popular highlight each year is focused on inviting a gourmet chef to create a sustainable recipe with environment-friendly dishes. The sustainable recipe was created by Chef Xu Yao-guang (許耀光) of Golden Dragon Hall in The Grand Hotel. Using seasonal ingredients, leftovers, and vegetables as main ingredients, chef Xu came up with dishes such as "Golden Jade Dish" (金玉滿堂玉荷包料理) , "Festive Family Dish" (妙手回春闔家歡盆菜) and "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Luohan Soup" (八仙過海羅漢羹) and these delicacies will be presented and demonstrated on site at noon on the 18th. People can have samples for free by showing their National Taiwan Museum ticket stubs. Internet celebrities like Fabio, Blue and White Slipper (藍白拖), Yishouzhao(宜手作) and others will also join the event.
National Taiwan Museum has stated that 2020 happens to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and it is also the year where it should meet the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the International Convention on Biological Diversity. Different countries around the world are thinking about how to protect the environment in the upcoming 30 years after 2020. In Taiwan, 2020 is the super year for biological diversity, yet the biodiversity on our table is ever threatened by climate change and improper industrial management. Therefore, this year's sustainable reunion dinner campaign calls for action on every family member to become “sustainable” gourmets.
In the cross-discipline forums, National Taiwan Museum invites Lin Sheng-Chi, lecturer of the Taiwan Marine Environment Education Foundation, Tsai Fu-Ning, Chief of the Ocean Affairs Section of Keelung City Government, and Huang Wun-Ci, founder of "Fish Bar", to give lectures on themes such as seafood changes in the reunion dinner, ocean crisis and marine culture, introducing people to the past and future of the reunion dinner. In the afternoon session, Zheng Shiow-jiuan from the Homemakers United Foundation, Hou Ji-ling, a teacher from Yue-Ming Elementary School in Yilan County, and well-known writer Saffron Crocus (番紅花) will be discussing issues from leftover food, marine environmental education, sustainable self-study of science and how families can participate in sustainable dining actions.
For those who have not yet mastered the purchasing principles or label identifications can go directly to the sustainable New Year’s market to buy certified food with resumes during the weekend, thereby using their consumption power to influence production. They can also participate in environmental education table games, get gifts for uploading photos to Facebook and checking-in, collect stamps in exchange of gifts and many other activities. For those who are unable to attend these activities, they can go to the official website to participate in National Reunion Dinner event, and have the chance to win limited creative products by National Taiwan Museum. For details, please go to the official website of the National Taiwan Museum (http://www.ntm. gov.tw).