Monday, April 16, 2007

Occasionally, I get asked whether I get tired of Chinese food. Living in Taipei, the answer is that it is almost impossible to get tired of Chinese food. Taiwan cuisine is much different from mainland China's due to the geography of this place. It is a fairly large island, not part of the Asian continent as such. Also, in spite of successive waves of Chinese immigration, Taiwan has been largely occupied by Japan for large portions of the past two centuries and in the 50 years since WW2 when China maintained a culturally isolated presence in the world, Taiwan was actively seeking new ideas and friends. All this has contributed to a wonderfully varied cuisine.
Of course, there is a heavy American influence here as in the rest of the world so within walking distance of our home, you can eat at McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Macaroni Grill, Chili's, TGI Fridays, Subway, and Domino's. There are also great Japanese, German, Vietnamese, Korean and French restaurants nearby. Of course there are Taiwanese restaurants too. Taiwan cuisine includes lots of fresh fish and excellent pork dishes too. The dumplings and noodles are the best I've ever tasted. When you want Chinese, then the choice is determined by the region of mainland China the recipes come from.
I have been taking cooking lessons though as it would be a shame to not take advantage of the locally grown produce. One favorite of ours is a vegetable called by several names or generally referred to as vegetable "A". It is similar to spinach but tastes more substantial. You don't usually get it in the US.

1 Comments:

At 3:12 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

freshest is the bestest! i love your cooking and can't wait to see what new recipes you'll have up your "whatever" sleeve when you get back stateside. i can't wait to see you in less than a month!!

 

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