Sixteen railway operators from five countries are to attend the fifth Formosa Railroad Bento Festival, which opens at Taipei Railway Station on Friday.
In addition to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), the festival is to be attended by 12 railway operators from Japan, as well as operators from the Swiss Federal Railways’ Gotthard Panorama Express, France’s Mont-Blanc Express and Sri Lanka Railways, the TRA said.
Apart from the railway operators, restaurants known for selling boxed railway meals, or bento, including Awajiya in Japan’s Kobe City, and Taiwan’s Fu Jing Restaurant, Formosa Chang and Fried Chicken Master, would also be at the festival, it said, adding that together they would present 39 different types of bento or snack boxes.
Photo: CNA
Fried Chicken Master is a halal-certified restaurant that caters to Muslim customers, TRA Director-General Chang Cheng-yuan (張政源) said.
This year, the TRA would recreate the old Taipei Railroad Restaurant, which would sell ice-cream sodas to visitors, as it used to be a popular item at the railway station, Chang said.
In the past, TRA passengers were given a cup of tea during their journey. To serve the tea, staff would carry a big teapot in one hand and use the other hand to hold the cup and flip open its lid before pouring tea into it.
The skill would also be showcased at the festival, the TRA said.
The railway agency said that it worked with food and beverage manufacturer Taisun Enterprise to produce a co-branded bottle of oolong tea, which would be given free of charge to visitors who buy bentos at the festival.
The bottle’s label was inspired the TRA’s old blue-colored trains, it said, adding that visitors would be able to see the TRA’s logo and train number on the label.
To promote the festival, the agency invited celebrities to attend the news conference and talk about their experiences on railway tours.
Central News Agency chairman Liu Ka-shiang (劉克襄), who is a also travel writer, said that the differences between Taiwanese and Japanese bentos are that the former are served warm, have more variety and cost less.
He likes to bring a TRA bento onboard whenever he travels by train, Liu said.
His favorite is the marlin fish with rice, which is only available at the TRA store in the High-Speed Rail station in Taichung.
Chang said that the agency sold 10.53 million bentos last year, which is an important source of its revenue.
Most importantly, it helps satisfy passengers’ palates and brings them fond memories, he said.
Visitors can also purchase passes from different railway operators at the festival, which ends on Monday.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and