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Ma sees Taipei as beef noodle capital

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou eats beef noodles yesterday at one of Taipei's renowned beef noodle restaurants, while shooting a promotional ad for the upcoming 2006 Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival, which will run from Sept. 3 to Nov. 5. PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE,TAIPEI TIMES

Pleased by the success of last year's beef noodle festival, the Taipei City Government plans to expand the scale of the this year's Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival with the aim of making Taipei "the world capital of beef noodles."

In addition to a poll to discover the city's best noodle shops, the 2006 Taipei International Beef Festival -- which runs from Sept. 3 to Nov. 5 -- will invite chefs from Taiwan and other countries including Japan, Italy and the Netherlands to display their creativity in a beef noodle cooking contest.

While shooting a promotional ad for the festival yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed the city government's ambition to introduce the dish to the rest of the world.

"Through the festival, we hope that Taiwanese people will cherish this traditional dish ... We will turn Taipei into the world capital of beef noodles," Ma said yesterday after shooting the ad at Lao Tong Beef Noodle House, which was voted the third most popular beef noodle shop in Taipei last year.

Jeffrey Harris, a regular customer, said the unique taste of beef noodles was "a little strange" at first for him, but the "truly Taiwanese flavor" had hooked him ever since.

According to the Taipei City Economic Development department, beef noodles have been deeply rooted in Taiwanese food culture since the 1940s.

In an effort to revive the popularity of the traditional dish, the department held the first Taipei beef noodle festival last year. To the city government's surprise, over 200,000 people visited the official festival Web site to vote for best noodle shop in town, and noodle shops' revenues increased by 30 to 40 percent on average.

This year the festival will begin with a poll starting on Sept. 3 inviting residents to vote for their favorite noodle shops. The 20 most popular shops will be invited to set up stalls at the festival event to be held on Nov. 4 and 5 at the Taipei World Trade Center. A cooking contest for amateurs and professional chefs will also be featured during the two-day event.
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