About the Exhibition

The theme of the 2026 World Food Forum is "Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow."

As one of the world's most vibrant living cultural traditions, Cantonese culture has been shaped by centuries of migration, exchange, and community, and continues to thrive across generations and continents. Inspired by this vision, A Nourishing Tomorrow: Dim Sum and Beyond invites young people from around the world to creatively reinterpret Cantonese culture through original visual storytelling, transforming heritage into a bridge between past and future.

Dim sum is more than food. Shared over tea, it brings families and communities together, an everyday ritual where stories are exchanged, memories are made, and traditions quietly pass from one generation to the next.

Around that table lives a much wider cultural world: the sound of Cantonese opera, the energy of lion and dragon dances, the excitement of dragon boat festivals, the timeless melodies of Cantopop, the cinematic memories of Hong Kong films, and the languages, rituals and ways of gathering that shape a shared sense of identity and belonging.

Across generations of migration, Cantonese communities have carried these cultural patterns far beyond Southern China. Even thousands of kilometres from ancestral homes, traditions continue to be remembered, adapted and passed on, connecting people across generations, communities and continents.

Through the 2026 World Food Forum Youth Exhibition, we aim to spark an intergenerational and intercontinental dialogue, inviting young people to explore how this living heritage travels, evolves and endures. Echoing the 2026 WFF theme, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.”, the initiative asks how young people can creatively reinterpret cultural traditions today to keep them alive, relevant and nourishing for generations to come.

Meet the young creators and stories featured at this year’s exhibition.

Heart-Bit DimSum Friends! 一點心意

About the Artist

Veda Lee 李悦, also known as @sakuraopal, is a Hong Kong-born illustrator, animator and filmmaker. A 2026 graduate of the Character Animation programme at CalArts, her work draws on warmth, nostalgia and everyday moments to tell stories rooted in Hong Kong culture.

Through illustration and animation, Veda explores how familiar places, memories and traditions can become intimate forms of storytelling — bringing a little more meaning and warmth into the everyday.

Director’s Note

“I’ve always wanted to make an animation that authentically captures Hong Kong — bringing together the nostalgic, classic elements of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema with a modern twist and a little of my own humour. I hope audiences can enjoy this part of my culture that is very dear to my heart.”

Behind the Story

While creating the film from California, Veda asked her father to photograph everyday scenes around Hong Kong and spent hours virtually wandering through the Hong Kong countryside on Google Street View for visual references. She even made trips to San Gabriel for dim sum — strictly “for research purposes”, of course.

The film’s restaurant, “A Little Heart Restaurant”, was inspired by a real dim sum restaurant near her relatives’ home in the Hong Kong countryside.

點心 · A Touch of Heart

Did you know?
Veda’s Chinese title, 《一點心意》, plays with the meaning of 「點心」: 點 (dim) can mean “a little” or “a touch”, while 心 (sum) means “heart”.

In that sense, dim sum becomes “a touch of heart” — a small expression of care, memory and affection.

When Mommy Makes You Drink Leung Cha 當媽咪要你飲涼茶

About the Choir

Founded in Guangzhou in 2021, Guangzhou Sagittal Star Choir is a contemporary choir rooted in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. Through Cantonese pop, original compositions and innovative choral arrangements, the choir explores new ways of bringing Cantonese language and culture to contemporary audiences.

Moving beyond reinterpretations of Cantopop classics, the choir has increasingly developed original Cantonese works that connect Lingnan culture with contemporary musical expression.

About the Work

「當媽咪叫你飲涼茶」 is an original Cantonese choral work that transforms one of the most familiar experiences of growing up in Cantonese culture — being told by mum to drink leung cha (herbal tea) — into a playful contemporary musical story.

Premiered at the choir’s fifth-anniversary concert at Xinghai Concert Hall in August 2026, the work has since reached more than 3 million views across online platforms.

Young voices exploring food, culture, memory and identity through their own perspectives.01 一「點心」意

01 One Bite, Many Stories 一口，時間流動

About the Work

One Bite, Many Stories explores how something as simple as a familiar taste can connect the past, present and future.

Beginning with a bite of traditional dim sum, the film follows a young person as familiar flavours bring back memories of family, traditional craftsmanship and shared moments around the table. As the story unfolds, the protagonist begins to question what it really means to carry tradition forward: does preserving culture mean simply repeating the past, or can each generation give it new life? 粘贴的 Markdown (1)

Behind the Story

At the heart of the film is a simple visual symbol: the hands of three generations. An older generation makes dim sum, a young person learns and reinterprets the tradition, and finally, a child begins to try it in their own way.

Rather than presenting tradition and innovation as opposites, the film sees them as part of the same journey — tradition provides the roots, while creativity and participation allow culture to continue evolving.

AI-generated visuals are used to move between memory and reality, with steam, light and the movement of hands connecting different moments in time.

Author’s Note

“One bite is a memory.
A pair of hands represents inheritance.
And the next bite represents the future.”

02 A Piece of the Heart, from Hong Kong 一「點心」意

About the Work

Why do we call it “Dim Sum”? Literally translated as “a touch of heart”, Dim Sum has evolved into far more than a morning ritual — it is part of the heartbeat of Hong Kong.

A Piece of the Heart, from Hong Kong explores how this beloved culinary tradition brings communities together and weaves through the fabric of the city. From traditional teahouses to the Canal Road Flyover, the Goldfish Market, Bird Street and the Star Ferry, the film journeys through familiar corners of Hong Kong while speaking with residents from different walks of life.

Through their stories, Dim Sum becomes more than food: it evokes childhood, family and shared memories — a tradition that bridges differences and connects people through the everyday.

Author’s Note

“Dim Sum is more than food — it is the ever-beating heart of our city.”

03 The Great Egg Tart Showdown: A Cultural Clash Between Traditional Hong Kong Style and Modern Portuguese Style 蛋撻大對決：傳統港式與現代葡式的文化碰撞

About the Work

As local Hong Kong students, the creators grew up loving one of the city’s most iconic treats: the egg tart. But one question remained — which one is better?

The Great Egg Tart Showdown turns this familiar debate into a playful animated rivalry between the traditional Hong Kong-style egg tart and its flaky, caramelised Portuguese counterpart. While the two sides are quick to point out their differences, the film gradually shifts the question: what do they share?

Behind different recipes and cultural influences are familiar ingredients, shared experiences and the same simple pleasure of taking a bite. Through the humble egg tart, the film celebrates Hong Kong’s unique mix of cultures — suggesting that perhaps the point isn’t to choose a winner, but to appreciate the different influences that have come together to shape the city.

Author’s Note

“Instead of picking sides, the real takeaway is learning to embrace and celebrate the diverse influences that make our home so special.”

04 From a Basket to the World 從一籠到世界

Mentor: Baolin (Spring) Shi

Behind the Story

When Eric was little, he once asked his grandmother what made Cantonese dim sum different from desserts elsewhere. Her answer was simple: “Every place has its own traditions.” At the time, he didn’t fully understand what she meant.

Years later, while visiting his older brother at university in Canada, his brother made dim sum for him. Thousands of kilometres away from home, that familiar food suddenly carried a different meaning — it felt like home.

That memory became the inspiration for From a Basket to the World. Combining his interest in technology with storytelling, Eric experimented with AI-assisted animation to explore how food can carry culture, memory and a sense of belonging across borders.

Author’s Note

“Dim sum isn’t just food. It’s a bridge. From my brother’s hands, to mine, and now, to the world.”

05 Spring in a Single Bite 春天藏在這一口裏

About the Work

Spring in a Single Bite begins with a question: if a season cannot be held in place, can its feeling be kept in food?

In a Suzhou courtyard, a grandmother gathers green leaves, works their juice into rice dough and wraps red bean paste inside a qingtuan. A Ming first struggles to follow her movements, then gradually learns through her hands, while little A You watches with the green of spring staining her fingertips.

The film then travels south to a Lingnan morning, moving between the delicate pleats of shrimp dumplings and the rounded form of qingtuan. Different foods belong to different places, traditions and family tables — yet the gestures echo when something made by hand is passed from one generation to another.

Behind the Story

Through these parallel food traditions, the film explores how culture lives not only in recipes, but in practised movements, time shared with family, and the everyday act of teaching and learning.

In the final scene, A Ming seals a qingtuan on his own and places it in A You’s hands. As the rain returns, the story comes full circle: seasons pass, but memories can be renewed through what we continue to make, share and pass on.

Author’s Note

“Seasons pass, but memory can be renewed through what we do with our hands.”