In that case, there is no such thing as “Taiwanese” food or “Chinese” food or “Italian” food or “French” food or “Spanish” food or “Polish” food or “Thai” food or “Japanese” food or “Mexican” food or “Indian” food or “Indonesian” food or “German” food or “Swiss” food or “Swedish” food or “Korean” food or “Israeli” food or “Morroccan” food or… well, that’s not what you believe, is it?
Sure, as far as I know those gastly 漢堡 prepared and sold by those little stalls are, thank goodness, uniquely Taiwanese. That doesn’t mean, however, that the very different hamburgers sold at the ubiquitous McDonald’s, Burger Kings and various other western-style dining establishments are “local” Taiwanese dishes.
Well, now you’re getting into the difference between mom and pop shops and international franchises. The food those franchises sell I don’t consider food at all, so I won’t go there. I would agree though that franchises do not serve ‘local’ food, anywhere. They are the death of food. Food death. Poison. Ichy poo.
I have a wee problem with describing a dish as “Taiwanese as anything” when their principal ingredient is 100% imported, isn’t even cultivated here, never has been, and wasn’t even widely available until after the last war.
My in-laws don’t eat wheat-based food AT ALL. They eat Taiwanese food.
Tonight I made prawn cakes with a coriander and chile sambal, from a recipe by Gordon Ramsay (a Brit) and made with produce widely available (and even grown, if you’re prepared to pay enough) in Britland. But the dish is Cape Malay. And no, I don’t have any leftovers.
If someone has cooked with coriander, there’s no ‘removing it’ from your food. The taste gets cooked in. To each his own I guess. I can’t stand the stuff.
Maybe you could do up a few prawn cakes sans coriander? Pretty please! :lick:
The prawn cakes have none. The sambal is like a kind of salsa-type thing on the side for dipping. But since I’d never allow a coriander-hater over my threshold…
Mandarin wasn’t “available” until after WWII either. It is now the local language by any standards. I think 50-60 years is quite sufficient for establishing new customs.
Peking duck and hamburgers are foods that retain their original flavors and cooking methods. They have not been modified or improved except in trivial ways. They also are not really part of the local diet in the way dumplings and other Chinese dishes are. If dumplings cannot be considered taiwanese food then neither can sandwiches be considered Canadian food.
I think this is all coming down to those who think Taiwanese food means simply food that originated in Taiwan, and those who think it means the food that is part of the regular fare in this country and has been for generations.
So your way is to describe all the food available in Taiwan as Taiwanese, except for some that you feel don’t count.
Mine is to simply describe them as they are, be it Taiwanese, Chinese, Italian, etc.
Well, as I wrote earlier, don’t forget to call weiner snitzel a mid east dish.
While were at it, let’s be absolute purists and call sushi a Tokyo dish and not a Japanese one. Or rather let’s call it a Hanaya Yohei dish since neither Tokyo or Japan (or Taiwan for that matter) is capable of creating anything.
Or, we can call taiwanese food either Chinese or Japanese as the stuff you guys are refering to was likely developed either during Japanese or Chinese rule.
Gets a bit silly doesn’t it? If you want to consider Taiwanese food only the gloppy crap you see in night markets that’s your choice. I favor a more expansive definition that includes the food that is customarily eaten (even if only for a generation or two) here and widely available. We can argue specifics but I’m really not interested in that.
Your way doesn’t work, though. Not unless you’re going to call anything widely available here Taiwanese. Like burgers, for example.
As I said, there are MANY Taiwanese people who don’t consider wheat-based food to be Taiwanese AT ALL. And they’re right, of course.
Burgers are not a customary food. They are not yet really part of the national diet in any meaningful way and the locals still consider them foreign.
They may be and I am perfectly willing at some point to say that burgers are part of the local food here.
As for wheat based food, a great number of people do consider them Taiwanese. My wife for example comes from a waishengren family but considers herself, like most people these days, to be taiwanese. Hence the food she eats is now local food now even if it wasn’t widely available 60 years ago.
I consider taiwanese food the food that is widely and customarily eaten and available. Not every group or region in the country may eat the food. So what?
Ever been in a McDonald’s restaurant in Taiwan? Anywhere in Taiwan?
How do you define “customary”?
I came to Taiwan in 1985. The first McDonald’s was opened in 1984 here. Taiwanese were, in general, much thinner then than they are now. Looks to me like McDonald’s has easily become part of the national diet here. Fat kids everywhere.
My wife and my secretary consider dumplings to be Chinese.
I blew it!