A Feast for the Eyes: Serving Snacks in Stylish Utensils

Taiwan is home to a dazzling array of snack foods. Diverse in kind, varied by region, they are a world-­renowned staple of Taiwanese life. Domestic and international travelers can gain deeper insight into Taiwanese customs and culture simply by sampling their bounty.

The ROC Tourism Bureau organized its first Stylish Small Eats Utensils design competition in 2015. In an effort to make Taiwanese snacks still more alluring, the bureau held a second competition in 2016. Participants were asked to design utensils that would present ten popular Taiwanese snacks—oyster omelets, stir-fried rice vermicelli, stinky tofu, pork bung vermicelli, gua bao (steamed pork belly buns), chicken rice, four-gods soup, bubble tea, grass jelly, and hei­bai qie (chef’s choice sliced snacks)—in ways that would catch the eyes of travelers and pique their interest in visiting Taiwan.

Student designers participating in the Tourism Bureau’s 2016 Stylish Small Eats Utensils design competition created a variety of ingenious new tableware for traditional snacks.

Creativity plus delicious food

Huang Yi-chen, a section head with the Tourism Bureau, says that the competition represents a modest attempt to give traditional Taiwanese snacks a new image by bringing the younger generation’s design prowess to bear on Taiwan’s food and beverage culture.

This year’s contest focused on students from product-design-related departments at Taiwan’s colleges and universities. Veteran designer Chen Jun-­liang, who curated the event, says that it put students into direct contact with business owners and gave them the opportunity to produce designs that genuinely address the serving requirements of the various foods. “The students’ youthful, energetic design ideas renewed and re-imagined night-market snacks.” Chen explains that night-market vendors don’t have the budget to afford personalized logos, packaging and carts. “But if 100 students were to adopt vendors by providing the latter with designs, sellers of everything from fried chicken cutlets to oyster omelets could have lovely carts, utensils, and to-go bags. Incorporating local symbols, customs, and city images into the designs would also provide Taiwanese snacks with their own unique design sensibilities. Wouldn’t that be interesting!”

Winning entries were shown at the 2016 Taiwan Culinary Exhibition. Pictured here, Janice Lai (second from right), chairwoman of the Taiwan Visitors Association, and Vice Premier Lin Hsi-yao (center) attend an exhibition of the prizewinning utensils.

Gorgeous when served

The winner of this year’s gold medal was a plate for oyster omelets designed by Zhu Fang­ying, Liu Jing­wen, Han ­Jingyi, and Qiu Jing­wen, all of whom are students in the Department of Creative Design and Management at National Tai­chung University of Education. Liu explains that they went for a plate shaped like an oyster shell so that customers would feel as if they were holding a large oyster shell in their hands, making the consumption of the omelet a more immersive experience by providing a visual as well as a culinary feast. To allow stall owners to serve customers without burning themselves, the plate includes a dome-like bulge at its foot and a handle-like extension on one side. All in all, the design represents an outstanding combination of practicality, safety and visual appeal.

The silver medal went to a bowl for serving chicken rice. Designed by Su Yuan­yuan, a graduate student in industrial design at National ­Cheng Kung University, the bowl’s shape was inspired by the dou­gong, an inter­locking bracket atop an architectural column. The bowl’s curves make it easy to hold while eating, and its large diameter at the top focuses attention on the chicken rice inside. Su gave it even greater appeal by making it from wood. 

The bronze medal winner was a bowl for four-gods soup designed by Gao Geng­lin and Luo Zi­xiu, students in the Department of Industrial Design at Shih ­Chien University. When accepting the award, Gao stated that foreign tourists rarely try four-gods soup because its washed-out colors make it look unappetizing, and argued that most of the bowls used to serve it do little to heighten its appeal. The duo therefore designed their bowl to contrast strongly with the food it contains. “We drew our design elements from an old story involving the Emperor Qian­long that describes the four creatures Chinese associate with the cardinal directions: the green dragon of the east, the white tiger of the west, the vermilion bird of the south, and the black tortoise of the north. Inspired by the story, we chose to incorporate green, white, red and black into our utensil’s design.” Interestingly, when the soup is finished, the bowl’s inner surface displays abstract representations of each of the herbal medicines the soup contains while its bottom shows the character cheng (“finished”), suggesting that the four herbs have completed their mission of imparting health to the customer.

Curator Chen Jun-­liang was much impressed by a bubble-tea glass inspired by a paper umbrella of the kind that Kao­hsiung’s Mei­nong District is famous for. The glass itself resembles the canopy of a paper umbrella, the straw its handle, and the black “pearls” in the bubble tea spots on the canopy. The design also includes coasters made with a printed fabric from Mei­nong that recalls the decorative patterning at the peak of such umbrellas. By combining bubble tea with Mei­nong umbrellas, the design fully incorporates a creative concept into a professional-level product in a way that promotes local tourism.

By applying their creativity to traditional working­-class snacks, Taiwanese young people have developed clever, meticulously designed utensils that add visual allure to the culinary experience of Taiwanese “small eats,” enhancing both the cultural connotations and the life aesthetics of the snacks.  

This year’s gold medal went to a plate for oyster omelets, designed by Zhu Fangying, Liu Jingwen, Han Jingyi, and Qiu Jingwen, all students in the Department of Creative Design and Management at National Taichung University of Education. The plate combines practicality, safety and visual appeal. (courtesy of Liu Jingwen)

The bronze-medal winner was a bowl for four-gods soup designed by Gao Genglin and Luo Zixiu, students in the Department of Industrial Design at Shih Chien University. Inspired by a story involving the Emperor Qianlong, the design incorporates strong visual contrasts and clever implications. (courtesy of Gao Genglin)

The silver medal went to a bowl for serving chicken rice designed by Su Yuanyuan, a graduate student in industrial design at National Cheng Kung University. The wide-mouthed bowl imparts a new look to the traditional snack.

Leading designer Chen Jun-liang curated the competition and hopes that its incorporation of creative design work into everyday lives will heighten the appeal of traditional snacks. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)