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Capital taste goes global
Open wide. Beijing is planning to build an international food street before the 2008 Olympic Games. "It will serve as both a supporting facility for the Olympics and a tourist attraction," said Jiang Huabo, director of the executive committee of the ongoing second annual Beijing Western Food Festival. The festival will last through August 24. The plan to build a 50,000-square-meter international food street beside Olympic Park has won the support from relevant Beijing municipal authorities, according to Jiang. Though the capital is home to many foreign embassies, Beijing does not have enough Western-style restaurants to meet demand, said Hu Ping, director of the Market Department of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce. "The development of Western food eateries lags behind major cities in other parts of China," said Chen Liqun, head of the Beijing Western-Style Food Association. Statistics from the association show there are 3,600 Western food restaurants in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, and more than 1,600 in Shanghai. Beijing has only 600. Beijing people traditionally are not as adventurous with eating habits, and Western restaurants tend to be considerably more expensive, Jiang said. The international food street is expected to introduce Western food to more Chinese people and meet the growing demand of foreigners, according to Jiang. The organizing committee of the Beijing Western Food Festival has asked more than 160 foreign embassies and 19 UN agencies to invite businesses from their countries to open food stores. Many enterprises - both domestic and overseas - have shown great interest in the idea, said Chen, also director of the organizing committee. With fewer Western-style restaurants than other Chinese metropolises like Shanghai and Guangzhou, Beijing is also planning to establish a center to train chefs in Western-style cooking methods, Chen said. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will create new demand for Western food services, so it is necessary to set up such a training center to solve the staff shortages, Chen added. "Sometimes a Beijing-based restaurant cannot find a satisfactory head chef for Western eateries even with an annual salary offer of 500,000 yuan (US$62,000)," Chen said.
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