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Gold Medal Chef’s Journey From a chef to a farmer who knows nothing at all “Huang Qiutian,” born in 1969, originally specialized in cooking. At 15 he went north to study under a master. After finishing his training he worked as a chef on Liu Jiao Tong, and later opened a cheap Japanese‑style restaurant in Yuanlin. He hired 20 chefs and the restaurant earned 2 million NTD per month. Five years ago, his father, who had been cultivating bamboo shoots for years and had strained his ankles, asked him to return to their hometown. To take care of his father, he and his wife moved back with their child and started learning how to farm. He admits that he didn’t know anything at first. In an attempt to accelerate the growth of the shoots, he poured a huge amount of fertilizer at the roots, only to learn the lesson of “pulling seedlings to aid growth.” After a single rain, the bamboo shoots floated up to the surface, becoming “sky bamboo.” When harvested, they were short and fat, and biting into them felt too old—essentially turning into “carrot legs” that lived up to their name. It’s no wonder the price was low. While others sold a kilogram for over 40 NTD, Huang Qiutian’s highest price was only 25 NTD— the lowest in the whole market. For a while, every time he stepped into the market, other bamboo‑shoot farmers would mock him, saying, “A 25‑NTD one just came!” The comment broke his heart to the point where he ran up the hillside and cried. That’s when he understood the importance of using fertilizer in moderation. Besides fertilizer, he also insisted on not spraying pesticides, which made his father disapprove and berated him, “You fool…”