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Notes on How Taiwan Turns Foreign Food into Q
First contact While eating dishes of foreign origin in Taiwan, I sometimes feel a mild sense of déjà vu. The shape is familiar.Pizza, a doughnut, a waffle. But the moment I bite in, my jaw reacts first.This is not the taste I know. The c... -
Notes on the Alchemy of Q in Taiwan
Heat, time, and loss The first bite of hot tapioca has a familiar resistance.That spring does not last. As it cools, it hardens.Placed in a refrigerator, it becomes something else. This is the natural behavior of starch. Still, we wanted... -
Notes on Taiwan’s Q, Quietly Embedded in Japan
A different kind of chew Japanese eaters are attentive to texture. Ramen is judged by its firmness.Bread is expected to be soft and yielding.Rice cakes need no explanation. Yet in recent years, the elasticity found in convenience-store s... -
Notes on Q-Dan Texture
A word that has begun to wash ashore While looking at the snack shelves in a convenience store, I sometimes notice two unfamiliar characters.They appear on gummy candies, frozen foods, and imported snacks from Chinese-speaking regions.Th... -
Notes on Shaobing and the Layers of a Taiwanese Morning
A layered wheat bread at the center of breakfast Shaobing, a Taiwanese flatbread known locally as shaobing, stands out in breakfast shops across the island.It is thin, round, and topped with sesame seeds, a baked wheat bread.It looks sim... -
Notes on Why Kaohsiung Did Not Extend South
An Unease When Looking at the Map When I look at a map of Kaohsiung, a certain imbalance becomes visible.To the north, areas like Zuoying and Nanzih continue almost without interruption.High-rise housing and new districts line up, even w... -
Notes on Hanshin Arena, Kaohsiung
where Kaohsiung’s center quietly moved north Kaohsiung has many department stores, large and small.But when measured by sales alone, Hanshin Arena stands apart. On weekends, the food court fills without pause.At Din Tai Fung, a two-hour ... -
Notes on Red Oil Wontons Beside Xiao Long Bao in Taiwan
A first look at color Red oil wontons, known locally as hongyou chaosho, appear before anything else is understood. The plate arrives.What registers first is color. Wontons lie pale and exposed.Below them pools an unnaturally red oil. Th... -
Notes on Taiwanese Beef Soup
Watching heat, not cooking Taiwanese beef soup, known locally as niurou tang, is prepared without simmering. I look into the kitchen and feel a brief sense of surprise.Nothing is simmering. No pot is being watched. At the bottom of the b... -
Notes on Taiwanese Radish Cake
From a White Block to Gold Taiwanese radish cake, known locally as luobo gao, is eaten in the morning.It is made by mixing grated white radish with rice flour and pan-frying the mixture.Despite the name, it is not a glutinous rice cake. ...
