The calories contained in a single portion of some traditional Taiwanese snacks found in night markets nationwide can be as high as 60 percent of the required amount an average woman needs per day, according to the results of a survey released yesterday.
The survey, conducted by Common Health Magazine, which compiled the list on the basis of calories per gram in any given food, suggested that the top 10 unhealthy snacks are deep-fried chicken and squid (鹽酥雞), green-onion pancakes (蔥油餅), fried/steamed meatballs (肉圓), pan-fried dumplings (鍋貼), oyster noodles (蚵仔麵線), oyster omelet (蚵仔煎), deep-fried stinky tofu (油炸臭豆腐), glutinous rice cakes (米糕), sausage wrapped in glutinous rice (大腸包小腸), braised pork rice (滷肉飯) and bubble tea.
There can be as many as 585 calories in 150 grams of such fried snacks — about the same as two bowls of rice or almost six tablespoons of cooking oil — said Wu Ying-jung (吳映蓉), chief executive of the Nutrition Foundation of Taiwan.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“This does not mean that these snacks are too unhealthy to eat,” added Wu, who is also a nutritionist. “You just need to know how to eat smart.”
Wu said the key to enjoying good food and remaining healthy was to eat in small amounts, eating more vegetables, choosing dishes made using low-calorie methods, such as steamed food over fried food, and starting a meal with low caloric food as they are usually bigger in size so one is likely to eat less of the high calorie foods.
Since the Taipei City government plans to apply to UNESCO to list Taipei as a gourmet capital, the magazine called on the government to enact stricter controls on traditional foods and provide a better and healthier environment for local gourmet food to flourish.
However, the Food and Drug Administration said that because of difficulties in standardizing local snacks and night-market foodstuffs, it would be hard to order food vendors in night markets to provide nutritional information.
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