The Taipei American School, or rather the parents of its student body will cooking up a storm tomorrow from 10am through to 3pm, when the school once again opens its gates to the public for the hugely popular annual International Food Fair.
Organized by the TAS Parent Teacher Association (PTA) the food fair is now in its 22nd year. Since its inception nearly a quarter of a century ago the event has gone from humble beginnings, to becoming an integral part of Tianmu's cultural calendar. It now attracts families with ties to the school, as well as large numbers of expat and local residents alike. Last year 7,500 attended the event and helped raise NT$920,000 for the school.
A total of 26 nations will be represented this year and together they will be serving up a mouthwatering smorgasbord of global fare. The food on offer is prepared by the parents and is all, according to Jean Liao, president of the TAS PTA, "homemade and healthy."
Stalls will sell a variety of traditional savory and sweet dishes based on recipes from such diverse and contrasting locales as Ireland, Denmark, Pakistan, Australia, France and Mexico. This year, for the first time, there will be a stall selling Vietnamese nibbles. The average price of the dishes -- ranging from New Zealand lamb chops to South Korean kimchi -- will range from between NT$20 and NT$100.
While the event is scheduled to draw to a close at 3pm, if you plan to eat your fill then it's best to arrive early to avoid disappointment and an empty stomach as the food had all gone by 2pm last year.
Along with the extensive and mouthwatering assortment of food, TAS students and expat community groups will be entertaining the hungry masses with musical and dance routines. TAS students have lined up a host of activities, including ticktack tennis, face-painting and a haunted house to keep children amused.
The Taipei American School is at 800, Zhongshan N Rd, Sec. 6, Taipei (中山北路6段800號), from 10am to 3pm.
In Taiwan there are two economies: the shiny high tech export economy epitomized by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and its outsized effect on global supply chains, and the domestic economy, driven by construction and powered by flows of gravel, sand and government contracts. The latter supports the former: we can have an economy without TSMC, but we can’t have one without construction. The labor shortage has heavily impacted public construction in Taiwan. For example, the first phase of the MRT Wanda Line in Taipei, originally slated for next year, has been pushed back to 2027. The government
July 22 to July 28 The Love River’s (愛河) four-decade run as the host of Kaohsiung’s annual dragon boat races came to an abrupt end in 1971 — the once pristine waterway had become too polluted. The 1970 event was infamous for the putrid stench permeating the air, exacerbated by contestants splashing water and sludge onto the shore and even the onlookers. The relocation of the festivities officially marked the “death” of the river, whose condition had rapidly deteriorated during the previous decade. The myriad factories upstream were only partly to blame; as Kaohsiung’s population boomed in the 1960s, all household
Allegations of corruption against three heavyweight politicians from the three major parties are big in the news now. On Wednesday, prosecutors indicted Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a judgment is expected this week in the case involving Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and former deputy premier and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is being held incommunicado in prison. Unlike the other two cases, Cheng’s case has generated considerable speculation, rumors, suspicions and conspiracy theories from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
Stepping inside Waley Art (水谷藝術) in Taipei’s historic Wanhua District (萬華區) one leaves the motorcycle growl and air-conditioner purr of the street and enters a very different sonic realm. Speakers hiss, machines whir and objects chime from all five floors of the shophouse-turned- contemporary art gallery (including the basement). “It’s a bit of a metaphor, the stacking of gallery floors is like the layering of sounds,” observes Australian conceptual artist Samuel Beilby, whose audio installation HZ & Machinic Paragenesis occupies the ground floor of the gallery space. He’s not wrong. Put ‘em in a Box (我們把它都裝在一個盒子裡), which runs until Aug. 18, invites