The sixth Formosa Railroad Bento Festival began yesterday at Taipei Railway Station, with people lining up to get a boxed meal from Taiwanese eateries and abroad.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), the event’s organizer, said that this year’s festival has more than 40 gastronomic treats from about 30 food providers and international railway operators.
The festival also houses a pop-up restaurant with a design based on an old Juguang Express car, which offers diners a unique sense of nostalgia, the TRA said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The number of international participants this year has fallen from last year due to travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the TRA said.
Railway operators from France, Japan and Switzerland have booths at this year’s festival, which runs through Monday, it said.
Twenty-seven railway companies and related businesses from five countries took part last year, the railway operator said.
Switzerland’s Glacier Express is offering packaged meals featuring sticky rice dumplings, while the Mont-Blanc Express from France is providing boxed desserts, the TRA said.
Several of the meals created by Japanese companies at the festival are shaped like trains, including a Tobu Railway Co Taiju (“Big Tree”) steam locomotive and two East Japan Railway Co bullet trains — a red E6 series and a blue E7 series, the TRA said.
Four Taiwanese hotels are participating for the first time, including the Courtyard restaurant at the Marriott and the Taipei branch of the AMBA, the TRA added.
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