Let’s face it, vegetarianism is trendy and even the manliest of men are turning, if only just occasionally, to nutrient-rich and plant-based meals. Whether you are a vegan, vegetarian or simply someone looking for a low-fat meal, Vege Creek is an ideal option.
Vege Creek is the right blend of East meets West, and you get this impression as soon as you walk in the door. Its ultra-modern design concept strips the space down to the bare essentials. Exposed concrete walls and ceiling lends the tiny interior an industrial vibe, and is tempered by long sheets of honey wood, adding a touch of warmth. A small island in the middle of the room is constructed from polished wood. Vege Creek can only sit 10 customers, so you might wait a few minutes if you come during peak hours. Take-out is also available.
Along one wall, large metal bowls are fastened to the wall and in them sit uncooked and pre-packaged ingredients (NT$35 each). Vegetable options include, but are not limited to, carrots, green peppers, several varieties of mushroom, fermented and dried tofu, rice balls, fish balls, baby corn, okra, bamboo, green beans, cabbage, cucumbers, broccoli, seaweed, fungus and pumpkin.
Photo: Olivia Wycech
A stunning green wall of leafy vegetables lines the adjacent wall. It almost looks like a vertical garden, except that the vegetables are bundled and sit in plastic cylinders. Each row is a different type of plant, and on the day I visited there were eight to choose from. The labels are all in Chinese but I recognized sweet potato leaves, bok choy, water spinach, Chinese cabbage and rape. Each bundle costs NT$35.
A little further over, a small case contains small wooden chips in a variety of colors. Each color represents a different type of noodle that will eventually get prepared with everything else in your basket. If you can’t read Chinese you needn’t grab one. Simply ask the staff to show you what they have when you get to the counter. There are five different types of noodles and all are egg and dairy-free. You can choose between rice noodles, wheat noodles, ramen noodles and green bean noodles. Each package of noodles is NT$20.
But be warned: It’s easy to get carried away with the ingredients when they are separated. That’s what happened to me, and my bowl eventually contained way more than I could eat and cost me NT$200. Black tea is also available for NT$25. Vege Creek’s standout broth is a clean and simple brew of Chinese medicinal herbs, salt and pepper. There is no oil masking any flavors, nor making you feel heavy, no MSG and no fat. As I slurped it down, I kept asking the staff if they were positive there wasn’t anything else in it. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t beef.
Photo: Olivia Wycech
The noodles and vegetables are cooked in the broth just long enough so they tenderize and swallow up some of the flavor, yet still remain firm. Everything is then transferred into a bowl and is topped with more broth. There is an ever so slightly spicy soy sauce that is drizzled over the dish, and a few strips of dried seaweed add the finishing touches to a gorgeous bowl of noodles.
Vege Creek also offers an interesting health-conscious lunch special, which includes three options for NT$99 and falls between 350 to 500 calories depending on your choices. Each set includes one type of noodle, two green vegetables, and either tofu, taro and a rice cake, or pumpkin, fungus and konjac, or a mushroom medley.
Photo: Olivia Wycech
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) and the New Taipei City Government in May last year agreed to allow the activation of a spent fuel storage facility for the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門). The deal ended eleven years of legal wrangling. According to the Taipower announcement, the city government engaged in repeated delays, failing to approve water and soil conservation plans. Taipower said at the time that plans for another dry storage facility for the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) remained stuck in legal limbo. Later that year an agreement was reached
What does the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in the Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) era stand for? What sets it apart from their allies, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)? With some shifts in tone and emphasis, the KMT’s stances have not changed significantly since the late 2000s and the era of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) current platform formed in the mid-2010s under the guidance of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and current President William Lai (賴清德) campaigned on continuity. Though their ideological stances may be a bit stale, they have the advantage of being broadly understood by the voters.
In a high-rise office building in Taipei’s government district, the primary agency for maintaining links to Thailand’s 108 Yunnan villages — which are home to a population of around 200,000 descendants of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) armies stranded in Thailand following the Chinese Civil War — is the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC). Established in China in 1926, the OCAC was born of a mandate to support Chinese education, culture and economic development in far flung Chinese diaspora communities, which, especially in southeast Asia, had underwritten the military insurgencies against the Qing Dynasty that led to the founding of
It’s fairly well established that strength training is helpful at every age: as well as building muscle, it strengthens tendons and ligaments, increases bone density and seems to have protective effects against everything from osteoporosis to dementia. But a new study based on data collected over two decades in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, suggests that another physical attribute might be just as important — and it’s one that declines even faster than strength as the years go by. The good news? It might also be less uncomfortable, and even slightly safer, to improve. Also, it will probably make you better
RSS