I’ve started a blog focused on translating menus in Taiwan: http://taiwanesemenu.wordpress.com. There are likely a lot of errors, and I would appreciate any feedback about that. I started the blog to improve my ability at reading menus, but I hope it can be useful to others. I’ve only translated a small number so far, and updates won’t be quick, as it takes me a long time. If you want to upload any menus you’ve translated, send me an e-mail (on the about page). I’ll credit you of course, if you want.
If anyone knows any good websites about Taiwanese food, please post. Thank you.
I’m doing a fairly silly blog about my adventures here, seeming to mostly focus on food… chopstick-em-up.blogspot.com I’ve been helped greatly by looking at restaurant’s menus ahead of time and using Google Translate on them… it mucks up the word order but it’s great for getting the general gist of things. I don’t speak any Chinese and I am desperately allergic to peanuts, and allergic to soy protein and shellfish, so it does help me a lot to have some idea of what I’m getting into.
Thanks for doing your blog… and if you want a dining partner, especially on the weekends, let me know. I’m here until October 8th this time and will be here at least 6 months next year, probably 2 months at a time. I’m staying in a suite in Xindian and working in Taoyuan while I’m here.
P.S. I was so shocked that I liked duck-blood pate and sour squash… probably similar to that first restaurant’s stir-fried congealed duck blood with vegetables. it sounds so disgusting, but it tastes great! :aiyo:
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks to those who have commented with corrections and better translations. I only have the time (and Chinese ability) to do about 1 menu a week, but if anyone wants to submit their own, please get in touch and I’ll post it with credit given. Thanks.
Thank you so much Spidercrab and JuliaZ!
This is so perfect. I just started to learn Chinese (Mandarin) again just so that I wouldn’t have to rely on my mom to translate everything for me when I’m in any China town (in Taiwan or Cali). I was going to ask her to write down everything I like to eat but this is even better. I love this!
Among her favorite examples is stir-fried cabbage, which she saw translated as “handbag food.” This is because the word for Chinese cabbage, baocai, is made up of two Chinese characters. Bao means “bag,” and cai means “dish/food/vegetables.”
Dunlop also points to a translation she came across for a cookie called tieban shao. The cookie is baked (shao) on an iron plate (tieban) but the translation in English was “iron flooring cremation.”
Tiebanshao is just lifting the Japanese word teppanyaki (鐵板燒). The cookie is essentially just the dessert the chef would make you at the end of a teppanyaki meal. It should have its own name, but I guess people in China don’t actually go to teppanyaki that often, and they just like the little pancake they make on the metal plate.
