Food we miss that is now MIA in Taiwan

Sadly I too miss KD, but in a way I’m happy to have learned how to make real pasta :slight_smile:

They exist. Search farmers. I grow both jalapeno and tomatillo commercially for the fresh market. Like many not so common things in Taiwan, they are not found in the supermarkets, but amongst locals. All kinds of seemingly out of place things are frown here. Jalapeno should make their way back to higher end supermarkets next year, at least in the north :wink:

Real soft bread pretzels exist here as well, but the same. From the Baker. I will ask my friend next time I visit for the Baker’s details as I enjoy fresh lovely pretzels every time I visit.

This is both true and ridiculous. It’s true Taiwan poses huge import regulations on things while intentionally poisoning local and export products. It’s one of our country’s biggest embarrassments in my opinion. Anyone remember the pork growth hormone literally stopping military purchases from the states even though Taiwan pork is filled with same chemical. Or the whole cloudy drink thing in Taiwan that got exported a lot and caught. Never mind previous pork bans, banana bans etc. It’s iroNic when dole, of all companies, eaves Taiwan’s banana industry. It’s disturbing.

For the leafy green thing, it’s hard to sell here cause the environment really favours bacterial and fungal contamination. So unless they learn to pack leafy vegetables with some roots left on, and customers stop being such princesses if they see dirt or an ant, they will always come and go. Luckily lettuce is the easiest thing in the world.to grow, even in an apartment.

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I’m sure this is to try to block imported goods rather than for safety. Block imported goods when local products are worse and you’re forced to buy the local product.

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I thought a tomatillo was a small tomato. Learned something new.

I’d love to know more about this! Do they show up at any of the markets in the Taipei area? And for that matter what’s the Chinese term I should use when I’m searching?

Well, OTHERS in this thread have been very rude about KD, but I’m still going to point out that five-packs of Kraft Mac and Cheese Original are currently available at the Danshui Carrefour for $275. Presumably it’s at other branches too.

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Miss those frozen Cinnabon Gooey Bites. Perfect side to a glass of whisky.

I wonder why Cinnabon never made it into Taiwan - sure it would work well here.

I’m both disappointed and relieved that good cinnamon buns are hard to find here.

But note that for many in Taiwan, cinnamon = Chinese medicine taste, so quite a few people don’t like the flavor.

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Not only Taiwan it’s not that popular in many western countries either. Seems to be more popular in US, Canada and Germany , Eastern Europe ?

No branches in western Canada. I’m not sure I’ve ever even tried Cinnabon - if I have, it must have been in an airport somewhere. I mainly know the chain from Saul Goodman.

I mean cinnamon as a popular flavour.

Ah, sorry. I think I use cinnamon fairly often in Middle Eastern and South Asian recipes, but usually it’s in combination with other spices, so there’s not a strong cinnamon taste.

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Cinnamon also goes very well with garlic-y tomato sauces, in very tiny amounts. It adds an extra layer of richness that you really don’t fully appreciate until you reheat your chili - er, garlic-y tomato dish the next day.

Tomatoes, garlic, cacao, and cinnamon are the four horsemen of some Mexican dishes.

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With apple tart in Ireland we would usually use cloves and not cinnamon to give it an exotic kick. Only recently has cinnamon become more popular due to American influences. That’s my impression, maybe it was popular a hundred years ago.

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels are popular in Korea, but never made it to Taiwan (or did and failed?) and that really sucks.

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Seriously?

It was grape flavored as far as I recall. And yeah, I know Bacchus was/is/whatever not the god of unfermented grapes :stuck_out_tongue:

What I miss but saw before:

  • Pickled green peppercorn in brine: found once in a while at random locations, then gone again. Perfect for steak with red wine sauce.

  • Canadian Bavarian style White Sausage and associated Händlmair sweet mustard, last seen ~2010 in City Super. Both are still available by mail order from “German Soul” restaurant in Kaohsiung, but just not in shops any more. I wonder why, since these sweetish products seem to fit local taste very well, and the sausages are even available in very long shelf life versions (canned). Yeah not original at all, with the ancient rule being that after production in the morning, the sausages are not supposed to be consumed after the same day’s noon…

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They were here. I used to get a cinnamon-sugar one regularly, on my way out the door of the Tianmu Jason’s. But it disappeared a number of years back.

EDIT: a bunch of churro places have appeared, for example in the Xinyi Land of a Thousand Mitsukoshis. I haven’t tried them - I wonder if they’re comparable. (I know, I know, not the same product, but similar niche in the junk food ecosystem.)

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There was a Cinnabon for about a year and a half in the Warner/Vieshow food court…about the same time there was a Hot Dog on a Stick (with Cherry Lemonade!!!:yum:) and a Church’s.
Apparently the local taste wouldn’t support it.
There’s a longstanding common belief that cinnamon is Taiwanese Kryptonite, but lots of the hardcore Kaoliang chorizos from down south use lots of it.
Personally I think it’s the cinnamon+sugar combo that folks find strange.
Or maybe not.

FWIW, anyone who can’t grok the innate goodness of Kraft Dinner is some kind of deviant…or American.

Those churro places are even better. Unfortunately the only one in Kaohsiung at Hanshin Arena recently shut and was replaced by another lame, generic bubble tea joint. I saw they’re still active in Taipei though.

You had me at cherry lemonade.