The nation’s favorite vegetables are Taiwanese cabbage, yam leaves and bok choy, while raw garlic is the least popular, a poll showed.
Results of the “Stars of Taiwanese dishes and cooking” online poll was released in Taipei on Wednesday. The survey, which collected opinions on the six major food categories, was organized by the Taiwan Millennium Health Foundation, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) and the Council of Agriculture.
Taiwan’s most popular fruits were bananas, dragon fruit and Asian pear; while tofu, salmon and eggs topped the list in the “Meat, Fish, Eggs and Legumes” category.
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Taipei Times
White rice, noodles and multi-grain rice topped the “Cereals and Whole Grains” category, while the “Dairy Products” category was led by milk, followed by yogurt drinks and yogurt.
The favorites in the “Nuts” category were walnut, pine nut and pistachio.
Garlic was the least favorite in the “Vegetables” group, followed by brown-cap white mushrooms (Hypsizygus marmoreus) and Okinawa spinach, while Durian was the least popular fruit.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Liberty Times
Fried dough sticks (youtiao, 油條), mock ham, evaporated milk and flaxseed were the least favorite foods in the “Cereals and Whole Grains,” “Meat, Fish, Eggs and Legumes,” “Dairy Products,” and “Nuts” categories respectively.
The survey collected responses from 172,000 people. Respondents in the 30-to-39 age bracket made up the largest group, accounting for 34.2 percent of all respondents, followed by the 40-to-49 age bracket.
Pan Wen-han (潘文涵), a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, said garlic was the least popular vegetable because Taiwanese do not like eating it raw, as it is usually sliced and sauteed to lend its aromatic flavor to Taiwanese dishes.
Most Taiwanese still prefer eating white rice and noodles, but they should consume more whole rice and multigrains, which can protect from cardiovascular disease, Pan said.
Pan said people should limit consumption of deep-sea fish to twice a week, due to possible high heavy metal content, which could affect coagulation and other blood functions.
People should check the glycemic index of fruits, Pan said, adding that, for example, banana is among the favorites in the poll, but elderly or diabetic people should for not eat too much of the fruit in one sitting.
“Studies in other countries have shown that vitamin D deficiency could increase the risk of COVID-19 infection by 77 percent, which is likely due to enhanced immunity gained from vitamin D and of its function to diminish inflammation in the body,” she said. “Drying mushrooms under the sun can boost their vitamin D levels. So people can boost vitamin D intake by eating more sun-dried mushrooms and fungus.”
Taiwan Millennium Health Foundation chairman Hsu Huei-heng (許惠恒), an expert in diabetes treatment, said the poll provides opportunities for public nutrition awareness, for example by introducing people to the six major food groups, and presenting charts and graphics to educate the public on daily recommended allowances.
Poll results, alongside data from the HPA, could help people create daily meal plans, for example two portions of dairy products, three portions of vegetables and two portions of fruit, and more whole grains to remain healthy and protect against metabolic syndromes, Hsu said.
HPA Director Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said people should consume a variety of food products to maintain proper nutrient intake, which is necessary for a healthy body, as the nation faces a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
RSS