Saying that Taiwanese food sucks because Taiwan doesn’t have any good Sichuan restaurants is like saying Indian food sucks because India doesn’t have any good Mexican restaurants.
There is such a thing as Taiwanese cuisine, and it is far from being the least worthy of Chinese cuisines.
MMmmmm…Texas breakfast…
[quote=“Feiren”][quote=“porcelainprincess”]
I’m now a regular at several Sichuanese restaurants in the Toronto area run by Sichuanese expats, and the food is spectacular. I never had anything even remotely as tasty in Taiwan. Nothing came close.[/quote]
OK, now I am confirmed in what I suspected in the first place–you don’t know anything about Taiwanese food.
All of the dishes I listed are typical Taiwanese or Hakka dishes. None of them are Sichuanese. You don’t know the difference.
[quote]Taiwanese food is the least worthy of the Chinese cuisines
[/quote]
Saying that Taiwanese food sucks because Taiwan doesn’t have any good Sichuan restaurants is like saying Indian food sucks because India doesn’t have any good Mexican restaurants.
There is such a thing as Taiwanese cuisine, and it is far from being the least worthy of Chinese cuisines.[/quote]
porcelainprincess isn’t saying Taiwanese food sucks because the Sichuanese food in Taiwan sucks. She’s saying that Taiwanese food sucks because the dishes that compromise what is typically known as Taiwanese cuisine suck.
And I agree with that 110%.
You’re comparing a bowl of plain ground up pork on white rice to Sichuanese food? You’ve got to be kidding me. The problem isn’t porcelainprincess doesn’t understand Taiwanese food, I think it’s that you don’t understand other Chinese foods.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]
MMmmmm…Texas breakfast…[/quote]
That’s making the local breakfast shop look good.
I wish I had pictures of the breakfasts I used to be served years ago when I worked for an Elvis impersonator who also owned a roadside restaurant. 5 pounds of meat and fat with pancakes and toast.
I can only say, save your money and go to better Taiwanese restaurants. 
Or shop around. There’s a 50NT/box cafetteria buffet thing down the street from me and it is killer!
Really though, to pull this further off topic. There are so many different choices in Taiwan now that yeah, more and more people open up Thai restuarants or Japanese sushi train bars and such things, instead of a real Taiwanese place.
When in doubt, get a mother in law.
jdsalivates
[quote=“alidarbac”][quote=“Feiren”][quote=“porcelainprincess”]
porcelainprincess isn’t saying Taiwanese food sucks because the Sichuanese food in Taiwan sucks. She’s saying that Taiwanese food sucks because the dishes that compromise what is typically known as Taiwanese cuisine suck.
And I agree with that 110%.
[/quote]
Are you seriously trying argue that the dishes that I listed are not typically known as Taiwanese cusine? And that Sichuanese dishes such as Mapo doufu are typically known as Taiwanese food. If so, you are as poorly informed as porcelain princess.
[quote]
You’re comparing a bowl of plain ground up pork on white rice to Sichuanese food? You’ve got to be kidding me. The problem isn’t porcelainprincess doesn’t understand Taiwanese food, I think it’s that you don’t understand other Chinese foods.[/quote][/quote][/quote]
Luroufan is just one of the dishes of the dishes I mentioned. It is more accurately a stewed pork dish with surprising variety. It can be compared to simple Sichuanese dishes as the delicious cold hand-cut noodles sold in chili oil in Chengdui.
Sichuan food is great, but like many great cuisines it is essentially peasant food best eaten in its native home and made from fresh, local ingredients. Your implication that Sichuanese food is somehow this incerdibly sophisticated cuisine compared to Taiwanese food is just plain wrong.
There ya go, just to refresh your memory. Not bastards then, but would “unkind” suit you better perhaps?
“Food between snot and swill” maybe isn’t filth in your book, but it sure don’t sound far off to me.
Anyway, it’s bullshit in my experience, whichever way you cut it.
And yes, I’m married. The only part you got right.
[/quote]
Curiousity is not kindness. If I go with your logic, then curiousity is kindness? I assume this is the reason why you’re saying I’m unkind? As a certified Master Chef, how do you rank Taiwanese food? I will admit, you’re doing much better with actually quoting what I write. FYI - No need to jog my memory. I’m far from being a forgetful and balding cranky old fart.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]
MMmmmm…Texas breakfast…[/quote]
Hey man, I know a joint in Angeles that serves that up…
Panties bundled up? Damn, boy, yours seem to be so far up your arse it’s a wonder you’re not walking on your tippy-toes.
How do I rank Taiwanese food? Irrelevant. I’m talking about food in Taiwan. There’s a difference.
Thanks for your kindness, too – “balding” is a lot less offensive than “bald.” I appreciate it.
[quote=“Feiren”][quote=“alidarbac”]porcelainprincess isn’t saying Taiwanese food sucks because the Sichuanese food in Taiwan sucks. She’s saying that Taiwanese food sucks because the dishes that compromise what is typically known as Taiwanese cuisine suck.
And I agree with that 110%.
[/quote]
Are you seriously trying argue that the dishes that I listed are not typically known as Taiwanese cusine? And that Sichuanese dishes such as Mapo doufu are typically known as Taiwanese food. If so, you are as poorly informed as porcelain princess. [/quote]
Holy complete misunderstanding, Batman!
Alidarbac: I didn’t say Taiwanese food “sucks.” I said that it’s just not that great. (And I’m a “he,” in spite of the username, though you couldn’t have known that. Wait a minute…don’t I have a masculine tone to the cut of my gib?)
Feiren: You have a serious reading comprehension problem.
Luroufan is just one of the dishes of the dishes I mentioned. It is more accurately a stewed pork dish with surprising variety. It can be compared to simple Sichuanese dishes as the delicious cold hand-cut noodles sold in chili oil in Chengdui.
Sichuan food is great, but like many great cuisines it is essentially peasant food best eaten in its native home and made from fresh, local ingredients. Your implication that Sichuanese food is somehow this incredibly sophisticated cuisine compared to Taiwanese food is just plain wrong.[/quote]
The main point isn’t that Sichuanese cuisine is more sophisticated than Taiwanese cuisine (though in my experience it is). The main thing here is that where Taiwanese food is ho-hum, Sichuanese food is outta this world. Is that easy enough to understand?
Anyone who claims otherwise is demented.
[quote]The main point isn’t that Sichuanese cuisine is more sophisticated than Taiwanese cuisine (though in my experience it is). The main thing here is that where Taiwanese food is ho-hum, Sichuanese food is outta this world. Is that easy enough to understand?
Anyone who claims otherwise is demented.[/quote]
Why should everyone have the same tatses? I don’t like what you like. I like what you don’t like.
So I’m demented?
Surely you can see that people enjoy eating different foods and to rate them is subjective at best.
Colour me demented then. I’m not a fan of Sichuanese food at all. It’s only OK. I do like Sichuan pepper though, and use it all the time, especially for BBQ marinades. It’s also very good for curing baldness.
I cannot abide the greasy slop that is all-too-often what you get in your NT$60 biandang, and I have a sneaking suspicion that that’s what a lot of people think of when they think Taiwanese food. It’s not, of course – it’s Taiwan’s version of Mickey D’s. My old mum-in-law down in Wuqi, now, SHE cooks up a storm, and that’s what I think of when I think of Taiwanese food. I’d challenge any one of you to sit down at her table and not enjoy it immensely.
[quote=“porcelainprincess”]
The main point isn’t that Sichuanese cuisine is more sophisticated than Taiwanese cuisine (though in my experience it is). The main thing here is that where Taiwanese food is ho-hum, Sichuanese food is outta this world. Is that easy enough to understand?
Anyone who claims otherwise is demented.[/quote]
Nonsense. Real Taiwanese food is great. Mmmm, pass me some of that pork tongue with ginger, some smoked goose, and a plate of haiguazi. Fire up the yangroulu or some mayouji and how about a plate of greens with plenty of garlic. Wash it all down with gelitang and some ice-cold draft Taiwan beer. Now that’s some eating!
Where is the lurrrve?
But you’ve not actually been to Sichuan as I recall . . . so that’d be more like a deep preference for Uncle Wong’s Ontario Park Kung Pao special with prawn crackers, fried rice and fortune cookies then?
More seriously, Taiwan does have a magnificent range of food, if you care to look. Think about it, the gals are prettier because the KMT had the presence of mind not to bring the ugly ones back in 1947, ipso dipso factoso, it stands to reason they wouldn’t have left the shabbier cooks to try and eke out a living cooking ersatz food through the Great Leap into nothingness. Right?
And Feiren, man you’re a bastard for rattling off all those Sichuan dishes in Taiwanese. 
HG
I’m up for that challenge. 
[quote=“Feiren”][quote=“porcelainprincess”]
The main point isn’t that Sichuanese cuisine is more sophisticated than Taiwanese cuisine (though in my experience it is). The main thing here is that where Taiwanese food is ho-hum, Sichuanese food is outta this world. Is that easy enough to understand?
Anyone who claims otherwise is demented.[/quote]
Nonsense. Real Taiwanese food is great. Mmmm, pass me some of that pork tongue with ginger, some smoked goose, and a plate of haiguazi. Fire up the yangroulu or some mayouji and how about a plate of greens with plenty of garlic. Wash it all down with gelitang and some ice-cold draft Taiwan beer. Now that’s some eating![/quote]
No, it’s sense. As already mentioned, you can’t go by the Sichuanese food you get in Taiwan.
Look here, I’ll prove the superiority of Sichuanese food with photos!
[quote=“sandman”]How do I rank Taiwanese food? Irrelevant. I’m talking about food in Taiwan. There’s a difference.
Thanks for your kindness, too – “balding” is a lot less offensive than “bald.” I appreciate it. [/quote]
You’re bald? I thought the avitar was shot taken from a night club in the Castro district of San Fran, not you. I’ll poke fun, but didn’t mean to insult the folically impared.
I was refering to Taiwanese food. I do agree there is great food to be found in Taipei with the influx of many talented foreign chefs. I dare say I could get better Italian food in Taipei than I do now in Seattle. I would like to add that the contents of the post above looks like a dare from Fear Factor.
Just a point of logic, or something like it…
You, EFT, stated that we should not mistake the curiosity of the Taiwanese for kindness. Its true that curiosity does not equal kindness. However, it would be reasonable to conclude from your statement, given the context of both your specific post and of the general conversation, that you were implying that while the Taiwanese are curious, they are not kind. I know that you did not state that in literal terms… but, it would be reasonable to understand that you meant that. As such, if we infer from your implication that the Taiwanese are not kind, we can reasonably infer further that you believe them to be unkind.
I know it isn’t a sealed tight argument, and I could run holes all through it. However, reading your post to imply that the Taiwanese are unkind would not require a big leap from logic.
Things you should embrace…All the great things that were enjoyed here before.
Things you should ponder…Why people went from giving you advice to arguing over the authenticity of certain foods.
Things you should dread…Endless grey days of plum rain, and the drivers.
Look forward to meeting you at a Forumosan event soon 
[quote=“MJB”]Things you should dread…Endless grey days of plum rain, and the drivers.
[/quote]
It hardly ever rains in Tainan.