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Tsang is a fan of fencing, falafels and moustaches. Photo: Nora Tam

John Tsang on his love of fencing, falafels … and Errol Flynn

Commentators might expect that if the government is bringing food trucks to Hong Kong, they would probably sell fish balls. But Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said on Friday that he would prefer them to sell falafels instead.

Commentators might expect that if the government is bringing food trucks to Hong Kong, they would probably sell fish balls. But Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said on Friday that he would prefer them to sell falafels instead, if he has his say.

Tsang made the comments as he was addressing about 300 young people at a forum organised by the Federation of Youth Groups and broadcast simultaneously online. He answered about 20 questions on the budget he announced last month.

Since Tsang suggested that Hong Kong should introduce food trucks selling common snacks such as fish balls and beef offal, some hawkers have questioned the costs of setting up and running such enterprises.

But when asked on Friday what he would like to sell if he owned such a truck, the US-educated government minister recalled his nostalgia for a food truck selling Middle-Eastern falafels.

“When I was studying in the States, there was a food truck outside my school which sold falafels. It was often what I had for a meal and I ate them for many years. So if you ask me what's my favourite food, and the food I miss most – it would be falafels. It wasn’t very delicious, but it was cheap,” he said.

After leaving Hong Kong’s La Salle College, Tsang went to Stuyvesant High School in New York, and then studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then went on to receive a master degrees from Boston State College and Harvard.

During the hour-long forum in Aberdeen, Tsang also said that it was during his university days, when he started to grow his signature moustache.

“I love fencing and in my college days I admired my coaches like gods – and many of them had moustaches,” Tsang recalled.

“In those days almost every fencer who won international championships wore a moustache, and in many movies featuring sword fights, handsome movie stars – such as Errol Flynn – always sported a moustache. So I thought it would be good for my fencing if I grow a moustache.”

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