What makes Taiwanese foods? What are the differences between Taiwanese and Chinese cuisine?

This bubble milk tea is probably the most well-known Taiwanese drink among foreign friends. But besides bubble milk tea,

what

kind of Taiwanese food is worth recommending to foreign friends? The pig's blood cake with peanuts? Spicy and stinky tofu? Or pineapple pizza? Taiwan is a society of immigrants, for 400 years people came from different regions, this stimulates variety and integration, which influenced the island to become the place of the most variable food culture. We're also good at inventing classic dishes from other cultures, like Thai-style shrimp cake, Chinese-flavored beef noodles, and tsao chicken in general. These are actually invented by the Taiwanese.

Greetings everyone, I'm Cheng Kuo-Wei. I am a science communicator who loves to ask questions. In this episode of Taiwan Keywords, my friend and food scholar Hu Chuan-An and I will start the journey from a 400-year-old Dutch dish, taste the most special Taiwanese gourmets, and get to know Taiwan from a food table. Tainan was the ancient capital of Taiwan, since 400 years ago, the Dutch and Han already moved there, making it not only the oldest city, but also the city with the richest food culture in Taiwan. With a hot bowl of salty milkfish rice soup in the morning, it is the must-try breakfast in Tainan.

Here comes the food! This is mackerel. This is a mixed flavor. Such a Tainan breakfast, the soul of the salty rice soup is in the broth. The most important thing about the soup is that it should be full of umami thanks to the long cooking, southern congee is more grainy, while northern congee would be stickier due to the longer cooking time. But it is quite different from soup rice, soup rice is basically putting rice in the soup, but for congee, it needs to be cooked. Milkfish is not only the most loved local ingredient, but it is also appreciated in all Asian countries.

It is even called "the national fish" in the Philippines. Taiwan has a long history of milkfish aquaculture. The record dates back to Dutch Formosa. We are in Tainan's ancient Anping Fort, "Fort Zeelandia" was built by the Dutch 400 years ago, and milkfish was imported since the 17th century while the Dutch colonized Taiwan. Related documentation can be found in the "Fort Zeelandia Diary" of the time. In volume 2, he documented a diary of a fish farm from 1647 and the word Oynij appeared. Researcher Chia-Yin Weng verified that Oynij actually means "fish farm" in Taiwanese Hokkien. It is usually located in the estuary or next to the sea.

It is a type of closed dam to raise fish. In the "History of Jhuluo County" in 1717, it was written that the ruler Zheng Jing was crazy about the fish, which the Taiwanese then called "the emperor fish." So the milkfish was already in Taiwan 400 years ago. The milkfish that Taiwanese are familiar with, which refers to the type we often eat, people used to think was imported to Taiwan by the Dutch. Because historians discovered that milkfish farming really existed in Holland. And it is similar to Tainan. But recently, researchers have found new evidence that the Han immigrants in Taiwan or the Austronesians, because there is a long history connected between the Hokkien area and Asian countries, the habit of eating milkfish dates back to 500 years before the Dutch Formosa era. , which no one had thought of before.

Keelung Temple Market, known as the number one night market in Taiwan, each stall has a pot full of delicious food. The temples are the birthplace of many local gourmets. Because Taiwan is an immigrant society, early immigrants generally settled around the temple. After sitting with the statue of the gods, the immigrants set up their stall at the entrance, which gradually turned into a food market. Wow, Professor Tsao, this is such an energetic place! - Can you introduce us to this night market? - Yes of course. Is this a night market? What kind of place is this? Some might call it a "night market," but it's actually open 24 hours a day and bustling all year round.

Here in Keelung, the main immigrant group is from Zhangzhou of Hokkien. The first thing they came here was to build a temple. Their local god named Kai Zhang Sheng Wang (Temple). This temple will gradually become the center of faith here. In addition, it would serve as a social center in the community. And little by little people gathered here and brought homemade food to sell, which over time became this food area, as we called it the "Gourmets of the Temple Entrance." Professor, you are making me feel so hungry just by the words you presented. I feel like I can eat a horse now!

What kind of food are we going to eat first? Let me take you to the most original ones that may have already existed in the Japanese colonial era. It's called "Tien Yi Xiang" which means "braised pork rice" which smells better. The name was given by the administrator of the temple at that time. Many Taiwanese dishes are imported, but "braised pork rice" has a purely local orientation. Slow-cooked pork skin and fat become Taiwan's soul food, in keeping with the thrifty nature of primitive agricultural society. Tien Yi Xiang Braised Pork Rice at the Night Market has been a family business for over a century, spanning four generations.

It is Taiwan's representative braised pork rice. Here we are! "Tien Yi Xiang": the best braised pork rice. Everyone has in mind the best rice with braised pork, because everyone has their own criteria. So this one is at the top of the range in the professor standard, right? This is my favorite! Since Keelung is the oldest modern port in Taiwan, people from many countries have been visiting Keelung. Spain built a fort 400 years ago. France and Qing had a battle here. After Keelung Port was built in the Japanese colonial era, as an international port, it brought cargoes and cultures from abroad.

Well, this is the place! The famous Keelung style tempura. Professor, so we are here at the... The name of the stall is simply "Tempura" at Keelung Temple. Tempura, upon hearing the name, we can know that it has a Japanese colonial orientation. - Yes. It is the old style tempura, it is cooked by frying fish paste. Yes. Sitting in front of the cabin, you can hear it sizzling. Its name is simply called "Keelung Temple Tempura". - There is nothing else that can replace it. - It's unique. - This is the one. - Yeah! Take a bite right after it is freshly fried, it tastes better.

Around Keelung Temple, each stall has its own tastes. It's like a united nations for street food. The beliefs of the people of Zhangzhou, the different braised pork rice from the south and the north, the tempura of colonial Japan, all merged into a perfect collage of Taiwanese flavors. Taiwanese actually didn't eat much meat before 1949, and one of the triggers was the key ingredient here. This is the sauce, the "Shacha Sauce". The restaurant is called "Old West Gate" and it is really famous! This place has been passed down from generation to generation. Have you never had it before?

It's my first time. But I'm curious why you wrote a book about shacha sauce. Did you approach it from the perspective of a historian? Well, we addressed it through a dietary study. From a dietary study perspective...I really want to figure it out. It turns out that shacha sauce was related to Shantou. This is a totally unknown field for me. I felt like "

what

a topic"! Shacha is a must-have condiment in Taiwan. Shacha stew can also be seen throughout Taiwan. By tracing the origin of shacha sauce, we can learn the history between Taiwan and the world, telling the story of our immigrant ancestors.

This is today's broth, there are 2 types of broth. One is the traditional flavor, which has flat fish inside, the other is the laksa flavor, but it is different from other restaurants. Do you mean the flatfish one? Yes, and the laksa here. I think it is the origin of shacha sauce. It actually came from Malaysia. Malaysia. So he came from Malaysia to Shantou and then to Taiwan. - Correct! There is a direct lineage between shacha and satay, satay refers to grilled kebab in Indonesian, close trading activities between the Chaoshan people and Southeast Asia during the Ming and Qing dynasties brought the satay production method to Fujian and Chaoshan.

And after combining it with local ingredients, here is the shacha we know today. The Chaoshan people are known as Eastern Jewish people, following the government's withdrawal to Taiwan after the war. They also brought shacha

cuisine

to Taiwan and eventually changed the food culture here. The combination of shacha and beef became the new flavor of Taiwanese

cuisine

. Here is today's protagonist: beef. Actually, in those days when my grandfather first arrived, Taiwanese didn't really eat beef. In fact, Taiwanese only started eating beef after mainlanders moved in. You could say it's because of shacha, which introduced beef to our food culture. - Yes.

Shacha plays an important role in changing the entire environment. Longgang is located between Zhongli, Pingzhen and Bade. Originally, this area was previously an ungoverned zone. Gradually, it became the place of refuge for veterans evacuated from Myanmar and Yunnan. There were about 7.8 thousand people here. After a while, people started selling food from their hometown. As you can see, there are many

foods

from Myanmar and Yunnan, especially seasonings. Therefore, it is a very ethnically diverse community. After the new immigrants arrived, all kinds of food stalls. - Correct. You will also be able to see the culture of Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. - Immigrants from different eras gathered here. - Yes, they're all here. - I am very surprised that there is a mosque here! - Yes.

The mosque here, I mean, is actually quite complete in shape. And the chapel and all that. It was supposed to be for the Muslims of the Yunnan-Myanmar army, so the mosque was set up here. - A place for them to pray. - Yes. And now take a look at this entry. You see this stall, at the entrance to the mosque, selling pork knuckles. Cool! There is a pork knuckle stall. Yes, "Wanjia Old Street Pork Knuckles". Well, I think these are the aspects that show the diversity and inclusion of Taiwan. Sale of pork at the entrance of a mosque.

That's something I hadn't considered before. It doesn't matter what you eat or what you believe, the point is to respect each other. No matter where you are born or what religion, you can always find your place to achieve a new life in a new land. 1949, the year the Chinese civil war ended. The KMT government led 2 million people to emigrate to Taiwan across the strait. The migratory wave of the century also brought food culture from all over China. And the Myanmar-Yunnan army was the last to arrive, because they were fighting as a guerrilla on the borders. In 1954, more than 6,000 people were evacuated to Taiwan and settled in their new home.

They rolled up their sleeves and cooked their best dishes, they set up small businesses in the allies. This had made Longgang the cuisine of ethnic diversity, and was famous for gourmet rice noodles, the specialty of Myanmar - Yunnan. There are more than a hundred rice noodle restaurants here. Rice noodles originated in Yunnan and can be found in China, Myanmar, and the city of Pu'er on the China-Laos border. A Mei, a Lisu girl who grew up in a mountain valley, came to Taiwan with the army and launched her business here. The restaurant is called "Amay Rice Noodles".

Our entire family, headed by my grandfather, moved to Taiwan around 1944, it is the first wave of migration from Myanmar and Yunnan to the new village of Zhong Zheng. And during the war, my father met my mother, who is from the Lisu people, a minority ethnic group in the Golden Triangle. So, Zhong Zheng's new village was a lively eating place. Like grilled sausage stalls, etc., everyone came here. And my mom thought "Why not sell our own dishes?" In 1981, my mother inaugurated her stand in front of our house, the stand was part of the house we lived in and she extended it outside.

The business continues to operate to this day, Amay insists on making the rice noodles by hand, and she has been doing so for over 40 years. The broth is made with black pig bones. Although it originated in Yunnan, the noodles are made with Jailai rice from Taiwan. The pork is also local. Now it's Taiwanese food. Because of the Lisu root in my family, the taste is relatively refreshing. We often use a seasoning called tsao-ko. The last cooking oil we add to the rice noodles would be the tsao-ko oil. It has a subtle but unique fragrance, which helps alleviate the oiliness and fishy taste, meanwhile, the fragrance is not too outstanding.

That's why we always said that "It's the vagabond flavor." The army remained within the nation's borders, and after moving to Longgang, his life improved. Pork liver was added to the noodles,egg flakes and fried eggs, the rich and nutritious broth is the answer to hungry memories and a call to food and warmth. Nowadays, Longgang rice noodles are different from those in Yunnan. It is a new fusion food born in the land of Taiwan. Walking into YesHealth Park, the huge factory reminds me of the science park, but walking into the factory, you don't see chips on the production line, instead it's hydroponic leafy vegetables of all kinds.

As the United Nations promotes sustainable development, the World Economic Forum (WEF) selected the world's most promising companies for 2022. 100 of them are technology pioneers. The only Taiwanese company selected is "YesHealth" from Taoyuan. Fresh vegetables With a daily production of 1,100 kg, more than 1,000 kg of fresh vegetables are produced here per day. It also exports its technology to China and other countries. It is the most promising indicator of Taiwan's agriculture. Vegetables may not necessarily need soil, but humans cannot live without it. For centuries, different people have brought different

foods

, bringing multicultural flavor to Taiwanese dining tables. Taiwan's food landscape is intertwined with its rich cultural heritage and technological advancements.

Traditional and future elements mix, layer after layer, in this land.