ETtoday’s first cooking competition reality show, “King of Cuisines”, held a press conference today (8/26) for the start of filming, and we also learned that “Jungle Voice 2” was nominated for “Best Variety Programme”, “Best Sound Award”, “Best Directing for Non-Drama Programme”, and “Best Art and Design Award”. Guests invited to the start-of-filming press conference include Ma Jung-Ray, vice-chairman of ET New Media Holdings; Wang Wei-Chung, the producer of the show; Wu Chien-Chiang, chairman of Japan Entertainment Television; LuLu, host of the show; Fred and Jason Wang, the show’s master chefs; Ai Fukuhara, “a cooking genius held back by table tennis”; and Aaron Yan, competition mentor of the first season. These celebrities all made appearances in person to support the show and to wish “King of Cuisines” the best of luck in winning the Golden Bell Awards next year!
ETtoday’s “King of Cuisines” is a large-scale talent show launched by Eastern Group after “Jungle Voice”. It is a reality food show that breaks away from the rules and framework of traditional cooking competitions, in order to achieve the goal of culinary skill cultivation and star chef training. Based on the theme of a real-life cooking talent show, “King of Cusines” aims to uncover the best chefs hidden around Taiwan and also incorporate social media management for the chefs.
Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group, said, “after Eastern launched ‘Jungle Voice’, the show became the most popular talent show in Taiwan and is well-loved by young people of the Chinese-speaking communities around the world. It has been nominated for the Golden Bell Awards twice and won the ‘Best Variety Programme’. Following the success of ‘Jungle Voice’, Eastern is now launching a real-life cooking talent show, ‘King of Cuisines’. ‘King of Cuisines’ is a 50-million-dollar project with the same production team of ‘Jungle Voice’. The show took two years to plan, and we hope to create a food show that can represent Taiwan. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected consumers around the world, and many habits have changed irreversibly. Eating meals in the safety of one’s home will be the trend of the future. Eastern has assisted Regent Taipei to sell beef noodles, and 220,000 bowls were sold in just three months through the Eastern sales channels. We can see the trend, and the strength of Eastern’s sales. ETMall will also be incorporated with ‘King of Cuisines’. In the future, we will be launching a number of instant home gourmet meals in collaboration with well-known brands, whether it’s the specialty dishes of the contestants, or the co-branded food products from Taiwan’s major brands. At present, we are already partnered with CookPower, a Made-in-Taiwan premium cookware manufacturer, to launch the exclusive ‘King of Cuisines’ co-branded pot set, priced at NT$1,680. The kitchenware is expected to sell more than 10,000 sets to achieve 20 million in sales through the enormous presence that the ‘King of Cuisine’ show will create. We would like to ensure that consumers are able to enjoy their food happily and with peace-of-mind. The company’s homeware and ready-made food products are expected to account for 40% of total revenue in 2020, 46% by 2021, 54% by 2022, 56% by 2023, and 61% by 2024.”
Ma Jung-Ray, vice-chairman of ET New Media Holdings, said that “Jungle Voice” has become an iconic talent show for the younger generation and is beloved by Chinese-speaking communities around the world. Furthermore, the show has also once again been shortlisted for the Golden Bell Awards. This time round, the company will be launching a reality cooking talent show, which it hopes will become representative food program. At the same time, short video recipes will be created for the dishes and everyone is invited to participate by contributing videos. The content will help all viewers to learn to cook safely and with ease of mind in the post-pandemic era.
Senior producer Wang Wei-Chung said that more talent shows will be launched in the future, providing a comprehensive platform for all sectors. Not only will we be fostering “kings” in Jungle Voice or King of Cuisines, we will also cultivate leaders in different fields.
Wu Chien-Chiang, chairman of Japan Entertainment Television, said that this is a cross-over cooperation between traditional and new media. The show will be using brand new 4K cameras, while 8K cameras will also be used for the first time to record behind-the-scenes footage of the whole show in the form of documentaries. The high-tech equipment will upgrade the visual effects and provide the audience with a new visual feast.
The host of the show, LuLu, who is working with Eastern for the second time, has developed a great rapport with the company and is looking forward to this collaboration. She hopes that after participating in the show, she can become a “kitchen goddess” and marry herself off successfully! In anticipation of “King of Cuisines” winning awards next year, a “Golden Bell” was prepared in advance at the press conference venue. When LuLu saw the Golden Bell, she could not hide her excitement and said: “Next year we won’t just be finalists, we’ll be winners!” Then she rang the Golden Bell for fun and joked: “I’m just trying to get over the nerves of announcing the finalists this afternoon!”
The “King of Cuisines” master chef Fred showed off his skills at the press conference and specially prepared “braised lion’s head meatballs” to tantalize everyone’s taste buds. It is hoped that “King of Cuisines” will be able to gather together culinary experts from around Taiwan, including well-known chefs, restaurateurs, and folk cuisine masters to participate in the show. Online events will also be organized so that everyone can come together and proudly show off their signature dishes!
When it comes to the master chefs’ criteria for judging the cuisine, Jason Wang said that it must have a strong personal touch, while Fred said he wants to taste heartwarming dishes; Ai Fukuhara said that the first requirement is that the dish must be clean, and the second is that it must be unforgettable. He added, “My goal is that I will be able to finish all the food!” LuLu said in amazement after she heard this: “Then it’s possible you would suffer from some occupational injuries.” Aaron Yan also added: “It’s possible we won’t be able to recognize you after the show.”
Do you want to watch banquet masters, award-winning chefs, kitchen experts, and local moms battle it out? Be sure not to miss the global premiere on 10/23 (Fri). “King of Cuisines” episodes will premiere every Friday night at 9 pm on all ETtoday platforms.