台灣之食:為何難吃?

[marcopolo79]

台灣食物相當難吃,比不過大陸的食品,為何如此恶心?對台灣人而言,口感比味道還重要.我吃什麼都吃厭了.

Why is Taiwanese food so bad, especially when compared to the Mainland? They seem to have adopted the Japanese obsession with texture to the point of eclipsing flavor.

[szbpkst]

你喜欢吃哪种食物？

不喜欢吃哪种食物？

[skylee]

其實，西門町的阿忠麵線相當難吃 ... 還有，怎麼讓人家用湯匙吃麵線 ...

在台北，沒有吃過甚麼好東西 (McDonald's 的焙果不計)，可在上海卻吃過很多好東西 ... yummy

[marcopolo79]

其實，西門町的阿忠麵線相當難吃 ... 還有，怎麼讓人家用湯匙吃麵線 ...

面線的確十分難吃,看起來像未處理的髒水,吃都吃不下來,口感簡直恶心.

[skylee]

erhhhh~~~ 吃了未處理的髒水 ~~~ 嘔~~

[cefiro2]

算不錯了,我在家吃的東西，幾乎每天都一樣，早就吃膩了，

可是為了填飽肚子，還是得吃啊~~~

[Guest Roderic]

說台灣東西難吃, 大概只因不懂吃.

隨隨便便一碗台式杏仁茶, 已可以擠身中國精品了.

---------------------------------

Omnipotent Big Brother in Charge

http://chinese-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2894&start=20

[florazheng]

[florazheng]

怎麼讓人家用湯匙吃麵線

面线软软的，用筷子很难夹起，所以用汤匙．不过我小时候喜欢吃面线糊．面线糊煮海蛎，很好吃哦．

[owen]

Wow! I was just about to start a new thread about missing Chinese food. I was travelling in China for almost 4 months and just returned to Taiwan on Christmas eve. I thought that coming back and having learned a lot about Chinese food in China I would be able to come back and find a lot of my favorites here (namely 四川菜), but no such luck. I'd have to say I'm finding food a big dissappointment here, and more expensive and harder to find too.

I was curious about what food was like in China a decade or two ago. I imagine it was harder to find and much less varied. Are the ubiquitous 四川 restarants a new thing or has the whole of China always loved that provinces cuisine?

Why is Taiwanese food so bad, especially when compared to the Mainland? They seem to have adopted the Japanese obsession with texture to the point of eclipsing flavor

I pretty much agree with your first sentence, but could you give an example of the second one with a Japanese or Taiwanese example, or both. Would 臭豆腐 be an example of this? When i tried it with some Taiwanese friends i told them i thought it tasted like regular doufu but much smellier. They told me it was the texture that was different and which made everyone put up with the nauseating aroma.

[marcopolo79]

臭豆腐 is purely Chinese, bland things that the Taiwanese love for their texture include crappy Mochi, 芋圓, 仙草, 板條 (I know these last two are hakka but they've been thoroughly Taiwanized and blandified), anything made from 山藥, 麵線 (see above post), and generally everything marketed as having "qq的口感", which seems to be just about every other food product.

My problem with eating in Taiwan is that, aside from a few things which can be considered truly local (and quite delicious, such as 薑母鴨, 三杯雞, ㄜㄚ煎), the Taiwnese generally don't fuse nor authentically recreate the various dishes that comprise Taiwanese dining, they just imitate Japanese, Western, and various regional Chinese cuisines in a really poor manner, all the while convincing themselves that it's sophisticated dining.

[yonglan]

I've just been in China a week now, but I was struck by same thing. I'm a picky eater anywhere, but yeah, food in China seems better than in Taiwan.

[owen]

quite delicious, such as 薑母鴨, 三杯雞, ㄜㄚ煎

what are those pinyin and ingredient wise?

what about 鐵蛋 or 三杯雞 ？actually when i went to 'taiwanese' restarants in china i had no idea what to look for that i would recognize. the only things i recognized were the things i mentioned above. the things that more easily came to mind were tactlessly seasoned street barbecue, bad teppenyaki, and boring beef noodle soup. admittedly, i lived in a small town in taiwan and stopped searching out new places after a while.

before leaving canada for taiwan my doctor told me that all the best chefs from china eventually move to taiwan. is it possible that taiwan is a really good place to be as far as really fine (i.e. out of most of our price ranges) dining goes?

[marcopolo79]

At the very upper echelon, at the apex of the culinary scene, there are some very authentic 日本料理館 (the kind of place where there's no menu, you just shell out a bucket full o' cash and eat whatever the chef gives you, most places like this have at least a $1000 NTD minimum, the a la carte menu is usually just as, if not more, expensive due to the imported ingredients) as well as some restaurants that specialize in 江浙 cuisine, but they're also out of reach for the likes of the commonfolk such as myself. Places that cater to foreigners are not bad, but not cheap (except in some bars, where decent western or Thai food can be had at quite reasonable prices).

I think most Western professionals in Taiwan, given the ridiculous compensation packages they receive (just to give you an example, I tutor a woman who works at Citibank, the foreigners who work in her department, after factoring in the housing allowance, the living allowance, the car service, paid tuition for any children in pricey international schools, etc. earn roughly about 5 - 10 times the average salary of their Taiwanese coworkers) can afford to eat like this daily.

薑母鴨 = Ginger duck in bubbling cauldron

三杯雞 = Stirfried chicken with three cups of something (don't remember what, think it's vinegar, soy sauce, and something else, best made from the 土雞 that are raised on the tea plantations at 貓空)

ㄜㄚ煎 = are those omlettes made from the small oysters

The thing about the first two is that it really requires a group to eat it, for one person it's just not economical.

[yonglan]

Half a dozen or so times Taiwanese friends have treated me to NT$500-1000 Chinese restaurants. Same as the regular stuff. Come to think of it, though, I would say that about anywhere in the world. Pay a little more and you get something for your money. Pay a lot more and you're paying for reputation or location, IMHO.

Ding Tai Feng was delicious, albeit overpriced for what it is. I hear there are other places nearby there for less that are just as good, but I haven't been.

I should also note that Chinese food is just ok with me; I like only a certain few Chinese dishes whether at home, in Taiwan, or now on the mainland. I don't even know the names of most Chinese food, and won't bother to learn because it just doesn't interest me. Therefore, take my posts here with a grain of salt.

[in_lab]

I moved to a new city a couple months ago. I've had good meals at about 6 places so far. Of those, two were Vietnamese and one was Thai.

I get sick of everything being deep fried.

There isn't much food in the mid-price range. It's mostly cheap or expensive (at restaurants for having banquets). This all sounds very negative, so I'll end on a positive note: The Thai food is very good!

[lpascoe]

Wow, I'm embarrassed because I've never had any complaints about the food in Taiwan. Oh except for all the oil. And the hairy sweet pork that turns up bread and stuff, when I don't bother to check for it. I must be a real pleb. Undiscerning and very easily pleased at least

But the best food I've had here was in Pingdong county (Jiadong, I think) at a little Hakka dive. Still oily, but absolute bliss. Also, cheap and consistently good.