Taiwan– category –
-
Notes on the Milkfish Belly Bento
The cost of deboning, and a layer of white fat inside a square box At midday, Taiwanese street corners develop a particular pattern of movement. Motorcycles pull to the curb and riders stand in front of bento shops without removing their... -
Notes on the Box Tied with a Rubber Band
A square of heat, distributed across Taiwan at noon At noon, the air on Taiwanese street corners shifts by one degree. Office building elevators open in succession and release streams of people onto the pavement. Suited office workers, l... -
Notes on Boneless Milkfish in Tainan
How the Philippines and Taiwan arrived at opposite solutions to the same fish The market in Tainan is moving before sunrise. Fish arrive while it is still dark and are laid out across wet-down tables. The silver bellies catch and return ... -
Notes on Milkfish and the 222 Bones
A fish without a dedicated shop, found everywhere in the south of Taiwan Tainan starts early. Before dawn, the diners beside the aquaculture ponds have their fires going. A large pot holds clear broth, and silver fish are lowered into it... -
Notes on the Steamed Dumpling That Lost Its Shop
How two parallel lines from opposite ends of China came to share the same menu Finding steamed dumplings (zheng jiao) in Taiwan requires a particular kind of patience. The difficulty is not that the dish is rare. It is that dedicated zhe... -
Notes on Guotie in Taiwan
A golden row set apart from boiled dumplings Boiled dumplings (shui jiao) appear first in this account only to clarify what guotie is not. In a Taiwanese eatery, if one orders under the single word dumplings, no sound of iron plates is h... -
Notes on Taiwanese Boiled Dumplings
A staple carried from northern kitchens into island daily life At dusk, when I walk along a market street, red characters reading “shui jiao” appear again and again on shop signs. Through glass windows, families sit around round tables, ... -
Notes on the Golden Flight Circle of Northeast Asia
A network of city airports linked like an aerial subway I sit by the window in the departure lobby of Taipei Songshan Airport. Beyond the glass, aircraft from Japanese carriers line up, and between them appear the tails of China Eastern ... -
Notes on Taipei Songshan Airport
A military runway embedded in the middle of the city When approaching Taipei on a flight from Haneda, the city suddenly rises toward the window just before landing. On the rooftops of old apartment blocks sit black water tanks, laundry m... -
Notes on Soy Milk in Taiwan’s Breakfast Streets
A record of a white liquid that holds the morning together Mornings in Taiwan often begin with a warm, sweet smell. It is the scent that drifts out from deeper in an alley, the distinct aroma of soybeans. When I step onto the street, man...
