Yeah maybe.
this is what I am saying too. we are discussing chinese food in Taiwan.
Not Taiwanese food. the difference is important and seemingly hard to grasp for some.
+1 to the fact if mcdonalds is busy it really speaks to either the food available or the times they are available. not amazing. that is to say, mcdonalds is shit. but as per this threads expectations, mcdinalds is Taiwanese food?
Mcdonald’s is busy in many places.
yes it is. hence my point.
WTF? How is “it’s not too sweet” a compliment for a dessert?!
Not to mention the fact that many local desserts are sickeningly sweet.
Desserts are supposed to be sweet. If you don’t like it, eat potato chips with your taro ice cream.
@gain is entitled to their wrong opinion
those that make recipes get it. any one aspect that overpowers a dish means the dish failed. not always, but normally. desserts too sweet are no different than taiwnaese chinese food being too mushy or salty.
for fuck sakes, please dont make me agree and defend gain. we had a good thing going…
There’s a difference between dishes with outside influence, and dishes that are just straight-up foreign dishes.
Xiaolingbao is straight up a foreign (Chinese) food.
Biandang is a Taiwanese food with outside (Japanese) influences.
Braised snacks/ lu wei（滷味）can be considered local even though it’s Chinese, because it’s Hokkien, and most Taiwanese people are Hokkien.
Do you see the difference?
I do indeed. so sushi is allowed then? my only concern was foreig.food wasn’t allowed while foreign food from select countries were.
if Japanese food is allowed now, that changes the situation.
I think a fantastic example is how Taiwanese made an African cichlid popular worldwide. that is astonishing.
then we dig deeper into say ethics, environment, health etc it is another story. but there we go, the grey area.
rice is another great example. taiwan innovates a lot. then gets shit on be cause the local market says they want a variety foreign countries may not like as much.
Which select countries? Hokkien Chinese food, sure, I would allow that. Hakka? Sure. The reason being most Taiwanese are Hokkien and Hakka, so as far as I’m concerned, those are local foods.
Shanghai? Szechuan? Nope. Japanese? Italian? Nope.
Local dishes with some Japanese influence? (e.g. biandang). Yes.
I’ve had it in Chinese restaurants in Europe (eggs)
you divided chinese into 2 groups, that’s why this conversation is fairly illogical 
Interesting. I never saw it in China.
I agree, but the way this conversation goes, it isnt clear. example. explain noodles/pasta. it is a cluster fuck. but they arent italian.
Most people here would consider Hokkein and Hakka food as “Taiwanese” but would not consider Shanghainese or Cantonese food as “Taiwanese”.
You’re placing artificial lines around countries (food from China vs. food from Japan) when they should be placed around peoples (Hokkien food vs. Cantonese food vs. Japanese food).
Hokkien food = Taiwanese (Taiwanese people are Hokkien)
Hokkian food with some Japanese influence = Taiwanese
Cantonese food =/= Taiwanese (Taiwanese people are not Cantonese)
Japanese food =/= Taiwanese
If you go by my “food common to at least a good portion of the locals prior to the Vietnam War” definition of Taiwanese food, then beef sure is a Taiwanese food. Even if you go by the “new creation within the tradition of an established cuisine, different enough from the original” definition, I think beef is still a Taiwanese food.
That’s true, but who really goes by that definition? I was confused when somebody first suggested that definition.