Is this supposed to be a troll? I have never read such a load of shite, formosa!
I don’t like oysters, so I’m somehow anti-Taiwanese? BAITOU! Since when are oysters Taiwanese?
I don’t like cooked tomatoes, does that make me anti-… anti-what, exactly?
Who on earth is poking fun at these foods? I simply cannot believe you are managing to fit some kind of racist agenda into food preferences, for chrissakes!
I happen to like durian. What, does that make me some kind of Thailand-apologist or something?
No, Sandman. Nobody has to like anything. Of course! You, unlike many of the other posters above, at least try to taste different things in Taiwan, and I am sure you know more about it all than I do. Your posts are always quite positive, even though you admit some things you don’t like. I don’t like everything either. It’s just the tone of the wording of some people above, and like I said, maybe I am wrong, and if so, I stand corrected. It’s not racist if one doesn’t like a food from some other country, but they way we express our distaste — disgusting, etc! – does say something about us. No? Maybe not. I am just asking a question, and you, more than most people, seem to really like living here and eating your through thick and thin. I was not even THINKING of you, Sandman! I thought you were on my side! Oops!
I’m with sir donald bradman who wrote: “I’m surprised how many people hate chou dofu. I always thought that anyone who actually ties it is bound to like it. …”
But look at comments like these: “Steamed Chou Doufu is the worst thing in the world.” In the world?
And this: “No no no. I’m talking about the steamed stuff, which smells just like freshly produced human sewage. And yes I did taste it once. It is truly repulsive. How anyone can swallow it is beyond me.”
Strong language.
It’s one thing to say “I don’t like such and such a thing, or I don’t care for that particular dish…” but when the language of dislike becomes so strong and ugly … I wonder if some kind of Western pathology is at work here.
Of course, we like the things we are used to. But why is it so hard to get used to new things? That’s my question. Not a troll.
I knew there was something I didn’t trust about you.
Formosa, food preference = racism? Ridiculous! How many Taiwanese people have you heard describe cheese as “hen u xing” (apologies for the atrocious pinyin). Most of my Taiwanese friends who go abroad on vacation end up eating more Chinese than local food in the countries they visit. (I suppose that makes good sense if they’re traveling in England )My wife can’t go more than a couple of days without rice, and we eat eat exclusively Chinese food when he parents come to visit. Hey, they know what they like.
Strong food preferences begin at a very early age, although they obviously change throughout life. My 3-year-old won’t touch anything green except M&M’s. Last time I tried to give him a green bean he just said, yuck, it’s green." (I’m sure he didn’t mean that in a racist sort of way.) Neither of my kids can stand durian. When I first met my wife she could not even look at lasagna because of the cheese. Now she’s okay with any cheese that’s not any more fragrant than, say, mozarella.
This thread is not about racism, it’s about food preferences. It’s focusing on local foods because most of the people posting are from other places. I mean, there are plenty of disgusting foods in the US, too. But I’ve never seen a pineapple-and-mayonaise sandwich in Taiwan so I didn’t think I should mention it here.
But what about those battered prawns with chunks of pineapple and mayo you get in some restaurants here? I love that![/quote]
Ahhhh…fong li sha ren…my favourite Chinese dish…
I also love jah yo eu toe and cow row of any kind…
I am not a racist…cho do fu is the most disgusting smell…like three day old baby diapers…
Wolfie was talking about smell vs taste…sight is another factor…I stand by my original statement…chicken feet probably taste great but they look really awful…
And in the spirit of being anal about getting quotes right, JEFF…it was a banana and mayo sammy (on wheat I believe) that you are referring to. My father would eat peanut butter and a homemade runny mayo thing every morning…I thought that was disgusting and always told him so…
What does racism have to do with food? I listed my no-no’s. I don’t injest blood, parts of an animal’s digestive system, and feet. I barely eat regular doufu, let alone stinky doufu which I have tried and hated.
I wouldn’t eat them here nor there.
I would not eat them anywhere.
I do not like blood and entrails.
It’s not simply culture so your theory fails.
Excerpt from “Green Thousand Year Eggs and Durian”
I don’t know, formosa…
Not many cultures of the world are into eating freshly produced human sewage so having a dislike for eating anything that tastes or smells as such doesn’t seem like Western pathology to me…it seems more like common sense.
Not everyone is into trying foods when their stomachs are at risk. It doesn’t matter who eats it. If your body doesn’t like the thought of it, why waste your time eating it and then spend time kissing a porcelain god or two for doing so?
[quote=“sandman”]
I don’t like cooked tomatoes, does that make me anti-… anti-what, exactly?[/quote]
IamnIOU wrote: "Not everyone is into trying foods when their stomachs are at risk. It doesn’t matter who eats it. If your body doesn’t like the thought of it, why waste your time eating it and then spend time kissing a porcelain god or two for doing so? "
I agree with you on this. But again, what you think looks and smells and tastes like human sewage is in the eye of the beholder, and of course, you have every right to think and feel and express yourself that way. But it is a kind of pathology to be so ferociously horrified by foods you don’t cotton to. Had you been raised here, in this culture, you wouldn’t be so horrified or terrorized by the things you find so revolting foodwise here. Right? So just try, for a second, to look at it from the perspective of the natives here. They just might be reading this forum. Not to mention, that a few of us do like the foods in Taiwan and are not revolted by what we smell or taste. Just say “Pass on that” or “not for me” or “I don’t find XXX” and leave the fanatical dismissal language in the closet. Maybe the water closet, okay.
Does I make more senser now? I think this is a losing battle.
Well Formosa, I was going to say that you’re full of shite, but it seems you’ve conceeded the point. I’d just like to point out that most Tawianese I know who go to Western countries eat nothing but Chinese food the entire time they’re there. Of course I put that down to the fact that Chinese food is better than most of the rubbish back home, but you’ve made me wonder if it isn’t reverse food racism.
Sir Donald, it isn’t food racism, since that is impossible. it is pure FOODISM. But even though I conceded I lost the argument and I am dead wrong, I still maintain that it is one thing NOT to like something and to stay away from eating it, and anther to describe one’s dislike in such strong ugly ways, as some Westerners seem to do when they encounter strange foods from Japan, Korea , CHina or Taiwan.
You’re right of course. The one is one thing while the other is another.
But I think it’s fairly natural to describe something as disgusting if it disgusts you, especially in a forum such as this. It’s not like we’re saying, “WOW! That Stinky tofu you cooked up for us is revolting!”
Chicken feet do look disgusting to me. Seeing them reminds me of the pigeons I have seen with mangled feet from electric wires and other maladies that affect these flying rats. Or maybe it’s a mental image of Big Bird with no legs.
As for the banana and mayo sandwich, it’s best with miracle whip which provides a tangy aspect to counter the sweetness of the banana. My stepfather introduced me to these fine delicacies when I was four years old (he also introduced me to beef liver and onions which I will eat to this day and used to love before the thought of liver made me less enthusiastic about eating it). He used to slice the bananas on them which tend to slip off because of the mayonaisse, but I have found squashing the banana in the peel and then spooning it out and spreading it on the other piece of bread solves this problem nicely. I call it “banana mush”. Dill pickles and bananas aren’t too bad either. I hear some people are disgusted by peanut butter with celery, apples, or bananas. I used to make fun of a guy in college who put raisins into his salad but now I have them in my salad because otherwise it doesn’t seem complete. Each to their own, I guess.
[quote=“LittleBuddhaTW”]I’ve never eaten it myself, but my Chinese teacher swears that it’s still eaten on rare occasions as Chinese medicine in the countryside … it’s called
[quote=“jeff”]I voted for intestines and blood, but in defense of the chicken-foot camp, those toenails on deep-fried feet are pretty revolting. Now the kind they serve in dim sum restauants usually have the nails removed, so I can tolerate them.
Now as for the intestines–do they actually serve the large, poop-producing intestines, or is it the small intestines that wind up in the bowl.[/quote]
Answer: Large, poop-producing intestines are used in both oyster vermicelli soup (
Not necessarily. My wife, when she was a young Taiwanese girl attending Ming Chuan College across the way from the Shr Lin night market, loved to eat chicken butts on a stick and all other types of foods that disgust me. After we were married and she spent a few years in the states and with me, she acquired a certain level of disgust for those night market foods… and today, even after having returned to Taiwan some eight years ago, she will not eat chicken butts on a stick…
Its a culture thing. My wife initially wouldn’t even look at blue cheese and couldn’t for the life of her understand why we eat the potato skin.
)My wife can’t go more than a couple of days without rice, and we eat eat exclusively Chinese food when he parents come to visit. Hey, they know what they like.