Food here is not what you get in your American chop suey joint. For one, chop sticks are a requirement and not an option. The Chinese cheat though. They don’t pick up every grain of rice with chop sticks they bring the bowl close to their mouth and push the rice in. This also necessitates the need for all food to be cut into chop stick size pieces. I think that this could lead to an authoritarian society. Freedom begins at the plate. Give me a knife and fork and let me decide.
Also, the Chinese don’t typically drink anything during a meal. They have soup at the end to wash down the meal. Some of the meals are really sticky and heavy with sauce so I cheat and bring some water.
Taiwan produces two things in abundance. Computer memory and fruit. I typically eat lunch at the customer’s cafeteria and they have something new everyday. I think the coolest fruit of all is the Phoenix fruit. It is about the size of an apple. The skin is bright red and feels leathery with flaps like an artichoke. The inside is blood red an gooey like gelatin with many many black seeds. I think it is related to a Kiwi but I don’t know for sure. It is very sweet.
For Dinner I usually have a Hot Pot. Which is just a big pot of boiling water with a small fire below to keep the heat. The restaurant gives you slices of raw meat, veggies and mushrooms. You throw them into the pot and let them cook and then use your chop sticks to fish out the bits of food as they cook. Any meal that involves a big fire on your table is ok in my book.
© su-lin