Wu Pao-chun (吳寶春), the Taiwanese baker who did Taiwan proud by winning the title of Bakery Master in the bread category of this year’s Bakery World Cup in Paris on Wednesday, said yesterday he would work to “keep Taiwan’s name shining.”
“I’ll work with the National Kaohsiung Hospitality College to create courses to train the next Bakery Masters,” he said. “I don’t want to be the only person with this honor in Taiwan. I want the world to know that bakers from Taiwan are capable of winning this title every year.”
Wu made the remarks at a press conference in Taipei yesterday after his return from France on Friday night.
“The first thing I had in mind when they announced that I was the winner was to tell my mother, who is in heaven: ‘I did not let you down,’” the 39-year-old said.
Wu said that when he felt stressed and nervous before and during the competition, he thought of his mother, and believed that she would give him strength.
Wu considers his mother the most important person in his life because she raised him, his brothers and sisters by herself after his father passed away when he was 12.
“I learned a lot from my mother. No matter how hard life was, she always worked and never gave up,” said Wu, a Pingtung native. “She was illiterate, and didn’t have many dreams. Her only wish was that all her children could grow up and achieve something.”
In fact, Wu’s family was so poor, he had to stop going to school after graduating from junior high.
But he did not give up.
“I actually never thought about becoming a baker. I just wanted to learn a skill to feed myself and my family. Baking was just something I happened to come across,” he said. “I was only 17 and was too young to think about the future.”
Following the example of his mother, Wu worked hard.
He paid attention to every detail and tried to learn as much about every ingredient as possible — an attitude that helped him to succeed.
“One of the tests at the competition was to randomly pick some materials and make bread out of whatever you got. I got olives and olive oil — both are ingredients I wasn’t familiar with,” he said. “But since I have the habit of reading about all ingredients, I was able to make bread with those items, and it actually tasted good.”
Finally, Wu defeated 23 other rivals from 17 countries to win the title Bakery Master.
Although the first Bakery World Cup took place in 1992, this is the first year a separate competition for individual bakers has been held.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,