On May 21, in honor of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Ambassador and Mrs. Lyushun Shen of Taipei’s Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, hosted an authentic Taiwanese banquet at the historic Twin Oaks Estate. Guests were treated to a lavish feast of Taiwan’s gourmet culture presented by two renowned chefs flown in from Taiwan for the event.
The list of special guests for the event showed how the Republic of China (Taiwan) never forgets its old friends and the friendship between the U.S. and Taiwan is continuing on through younger generations. Among those attending were Lester Wolff, former congressman and one of the founding fathers of the Taiwan Relations Act enacted in 1979; Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ); Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D-VI); Mr. William Brown, the honorary chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT); Ms. Mary Dean, wife of the late David Dean, former chairman of AIT; Ms. Lillian Belocchi, wife of the late Ambassador Natale Belocchi, former chairman of AIT; Ms. Sally Lilley, wife of the late James Lilley, former director of AIT; Ambassador Edward Perkins, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; C.D. Mote, Jr., president of the National Academy of Engineering; and Jay Taylor, a renowned Fairbank Center scholar and author of The Generalissimo: Chiang-kai Shek and the Struggle for Modern China. Also in attendance were several leaders of the Chinese/Taiwanese community in Washington, D.C., as well as several congressional aides, media reporters, and food critics, who represented the younger generations at the banquet.
Each of the special guests, who held long-term friendships with Taiwan, were introduced by Ambassador Shen. He thanked each one and emphasized that the occasion was held not only for promoting Taiwan’s good wine and gourmet food, but also to take the opportunity to highlight the cross- generational friendship. He went on to express Taiwan’s deepest gratitude to its steadfast American friends. Ending his speech with a toast to friendship, he described Taiwan’s famous shaoxing rice wine and Kinmen sorghum liquor, then raised his glass with a smile to all the guests.
Representative Lyushun Shen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States hosted an authentic Taiwanese gourmet banquet at Twin Oaks in the evening of May 21, 2015.
Representative Lyushun Shen delivers his welcoming remarks at the authentic Taiwanese gourmet banquet at Twin Oaks in the evening of May 21, 2015.
Representative Lyushun Shen presents certificates of appreciation to the two Taiwanese chefs, Tsai Wan-Li (left) and Pan Meng-Jen (right), who prepared the May 21 banquet at the Twin Oaks Estate.
The banquet’s first course consisted of four delicacies: pan fried scallops with lemon sauce, peeled tomatoes marinated with roses, golden kimchi, and smoked salmon roll with pineapple.
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