Promote Taiwanese foods
The Michelin Guide Taipei last week announced 12 restaurant dishes — mostly northern Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine — as well as 14 street food snacks that received a “Bib Gourmand Inspectors’ Favorites for Good Value” award.
After the announcement, some Taiwanese gourmands pointed out that Miaokou Night Market in Keelung, as well as Taiwan’s daytime markets, are also home to an assortment of gastronomic delights.
Some expressed regret that the guide’s inspectors had overlooked the many cheap eats hidden in Taipei’s alleyways and small streets, and argued that many of these undiscovered gems are also worthy of merit.
The Michelin Guide Taipei round-up of budget food, now in its second year, is revealing of the way foreigners view Taiwanese food and it will surely help to attract gastronomic pilgrims to Taiwan in search of new and exciting tastes — and help give Taiwan a confidence boost.
However, it is perhaps unsurprising that relatively few foreigners are able to enjoy Taiwan’s staple belly-filler, braised pork rice (滷肉飯), which does not feature in the inspectors’ selection.
However, bamboo tube steamed sticky rice (筒仔米糕) did make an appearance this year, as did gua-bao (刈包) — often humorously referred to as a “Taiwanese hamburger.”
Through means of healthy competition, improving quality and continuing to develop a diverse range of dishes, there should be a bright future for many of Taipei’s overlooked restaurants and food stalls, especially with the assistance of government promotion.
In September 2009, a “Reuters Life” story, entitled “10 of world’s most unusual foods,” ranked Taiwan’s pig’s blood cake (豬血糕) as No. 1. If other specialist dishes such as thickened squid soup with squid’s teeth (魷魚嘴羹), grilled fish jaw — eaten together with fish eyes — were also featured as specialist Taiwanese foods, this would surely be a big selling point.
Foreigners sometimes liken the glutenous, stringy texture of an oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) to eating phlegm, but fresh Taiwanese oysters are plump and beautiful, and can normally be snapped up for under NT$10 apiece.
However, imported oysters from Hiroshima, Japan, are sold at jaw-droppingly low prices.
As a tropical island, Taiwan’s seafood, whether it be fresh fish, lobsters, oysters or crabs, should be more actively promoted by the government.
Since the quality of ingredients in Taiwan is good, all that is needed is for them to be cooked with skill and care and word of mouth will soon spread, attracting even more foodies to Taiwan to write articles about our nation.
Hsiao Chia-hung
Taipei
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