It was learnt from the organizing committee for the 16th Chinese Chef Festival that the "Number One Asian Pot" will be introduced at the 16th Chinese Chef Festival that will be held in Shunde District in Guangdong's Foshan City in October this year. Over 20,000 excellent chefs from all over the world will gather in Fengcheng (Shunde's Daliang Town).

According to the introduction, the "Number One Asian Pot" that will show up at the Chinese Chef Festival is made from the Guangdong Foshan's Shiwan Nanfeng old firing stove which has kept fire for 500 years. As the symbol of Chinese gastronomic culture, the "Number One Asian Pot" is 1.4 meters high and has a diameter of 1.1 meters.

On the day of the opening ceremony of the 16th Chinese Chef Festival, the "Number One Asian Pot" will be ignited on a special double-height gas cooker. Famous chefs from the Shunde district will prepare soup in the pot, and the soup can be served to 5,000 people.

The first Asian Cooker will be continually kept warm during the festival, and the soup will continually be served for the people. It is estimated that about 110,000 people will be able to sample the soup that has been prepared by the chefs during this period. All the income from the festival will be donated to the charities in Shunde.

The saying "The best food is in Guangzhou, and the best cooks are from Fengcheng" is widely acknowledged by most people. Restaurants in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and other overseas locations which have large communities from Guangdong would usually advertise that their cooks are from Fengcheng in order to attract customers.

(China News Service June 13, 2006)