The Taichung City Government organized the 2010 Bamboo Shoot Season and held a bamboo shoot feast in New Palace Restaurant, situated in the east district of Taichung City. The 108 tables in the restaurant were all reserved, and all of the guests were satisfied with the dishes. Hu said that each set of bamboo shoot dishes cost NTD 3488 and all of the tables were reserved in just one day. He was so glad to know that the feast was so popular.

The mayor, Jason Hu, said that the best bamboo shoots were from Dakeng. The freshness date of bamboo shoots is very short. Therefore, people have to cook soon after purchasing. According to the suggestion from Mr. Lai His-song (Director in General of the Taichung Farmer’s Association), the Taichung Farmer’s Association decided to build a cold storage plant. Through the support from several city councilors, they raised NTD 6 million and built the cold storage plant. The freshness date of bamboo shoots can, thus, be extended to 2 weeks and the price of bamboo shoot has risen from NTD 28 for 600g to NTD 56 for 600g which is double that of before, and increases bamboo farmers’ incomes.

Hu also told the guests that he would invite 1000 Hong Kong tourists to join the Dakeng Thousand People Bamboo Feast in the future to stimulate the tourism market and the food and beverage industry of Taichung City. Hu said that the local agriculture products are the most treasured wealth of Taichung.

Hu told Mr. Lee (Director in General of Taiping) that Taiping litchi is the most delicious litchi; it is even better than “Yuhobao” litchi.

Lee told Hu that dry Taiping lichi was very popular when they hosted the Taichung agriculture product fairs in Malaysia. The Farmer’s Association is working on enhancing quality and improving the package to launch the new products next year.

According to the Department of Economic Development, the cold bamboo feast was cooked by the chefs of the New Palace Restaurant. The reservation was open on July 19th for 100 tables, and all of the seats were reserved before the end of the day. Therefore, they opened 108 tables which was also the maximum space capacity of the restaurant. They were sorry for the citizens who could not get a reservation and suggested that they make a reservation earlier next time.