Taiwanese Cuisine and Its Culture
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Taiwanese Cuisine and Its Culture 指導老師:張簡麗淑 應英系 4-2 邱以昀 1001417062 應英系 4-2 陳爾彬 1001417072 應英系 4-2 邵怡靜 1001417092 應英系 4-2 張雅如 1001417100 Department of Applied English, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology March 2015 Special Topic Report Signature Page (Title of Special Topic) Taiwanese Cuisine and Its Culture (Students’ Names) Bing Phoebe Sherry Kira Special Topic Approved: ___________________________________ Name of Committee Member ___________________________________ Name of Committee Member ___________________________________ Advisor ___________________________________ Department Chairperson April/2015 Power of Attorney for Yuanpei University of Medical Technology Title: Taiwanese Cuisine and Its Culture Advisor: Monica Chang Chien I □agree □disagree to grant Yuanpei University Library (herein referred as Party A) the rights to, without limitation of time, territory, numbers of usage, either in paper or in digital form, edit and/or publicly distribute the listed work through store, duplication, issuance, web transmission, for individual, non-profit, and educational purposes, to let user(s) search, browse, download or print the listed work to exchange and circulate academic information. Advisor:___________________ (Signature) Copyright Owners: Class: 4-2 Student ID:1001417062 Student’s Name: __________ Class: 4-2 Student ID:1001417072 Student’s Name: __________ Class: 4-2 Student ID:1001417092 Student’s Name: __________ Class: 4-2 Student ID:1001417100 Student’s Name: __________ April/2015 Acknowledgements Our greatest debt is to Professor Monica Chang Chien, who painstakingly and scrupulously went through the early drafts of the text, always helping with invaluable suggestions. We also wish to thank Dr. Alex Liu, who provided stimulating direction, and other teachers of DAE, who offered sound insights and much vital encouragement. We’re particularly grateful to our family who told us to get on with it. i Abstract Food is a great way to become acquainted with Taiwan’s culture because food plays a major role in people’s lives here. In English, the common greet is “How are you?” In Taiwan, it implies, “Have you eaten?” To Taiwanese, being able to eat is the basic gauge for happiness. Beyond its role as the gauge for happiness, food is something that allows one to see the overwhelming hospitality of the people in Taiwan. Being a host is an important role here, and offering food to someone who is unfamiliar to a place or a certain type of food makes Taiwanese people proud and honored. One can find great Thai, Vietnamese, American, Japanese, Italian, and Indian foods as well as the different styles of foods from mainland China in this amazing island. Taiwan’s unique ethnic influx experienced from China, in particular, offers a widespread variety of its cuisine in just a small area. This diversity gives us a window into the Taiwanese culture because the people here, just like the food, are friendly and welcoming to foreigners. One other arena for food enjoyment is something unique in Taiwan: the night market. On a pleasant evening, people crowd night market streets where they can enjoy a variety of different foods for extremely low prices. Barbecue, seafood, steaks, sushi, and desserts are all available, and these night markets provide a place for the community to come together and friends to rendezvous. Whether eating a huge wedding feast or having cheap but delicious meals around a night market, food is something to celebrate, and it is a great way to learn about Taiwan. Not only does Taiwanese cuisine give insight into the culture in many significant ways, but it is delicious, as diverse as the people, and a reason to be happy. Keywords: Taiwan’s culture, hospitality, night market, Taiwanese cuisine ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements..................................................................................i Abstract...................................................................................................ii Introduction.............................................................................................1 Beef Noodle Soup.....................................................................................3 Oyster Omelet..........................................................................................4 The Featured Food for Festivals.............................................................6 Night Market...........................................................................................10 Zuo Yezi....................................................................................................11 Taiwanese Desserts.................................................................................12 Conclusion...............................................................................................14 Works Cited............................................................................................17 Introduction Food is a great way to become acquainted with Taiwan’s culture because food plays a major role in people’s lives here. A common greeting in Taiwan is “chi bao le ma,” meaning “are you full?” The question implies not only that being able to eat is central in the Taiwanese mind, but also that if you have eaten, you are happy or alright. Being able to eat is the basic gauge for happiness. There is also a saying which infers Taiwanese dinning culture. That is: “While eating, one deserves dignity and superiority.” (吃飯皇帝大) 1 Beyond its role as the gauge for happiness, food is something that allows one to see the overwhelming hospitality of the people in Taiwan. This hospitality implies a very strong sense of community and fellowship in Taiwan. Not only is being a host important, but eating good food with friends and/or family is the norm. Taiwanese cuisine and its culture can also be viewed in a way that many Asian countries cannot: as a melting pot of people. The reason is that Taiwan’s history has involved countries such as Holland, Portugal, Japan, and China. Thus, its cuisine is as diverse as its people, and almost every dish has its own story. 2 Beef Noodle Soup Take beef noodle soup and oyster omelet for examples. Beef noodle soup is one of the most popular Taiwanese dishes. Yet, it was invented by a retired old soldier from Sichuan. This soldier came to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-Shek’s troops around 1949. After he settled down in this island, he suffered from serious homesickness because he missed his native dishes and their tasty flavor. One day, he cooked slabs of beef in Sichuan spicy soup, and then put noodles in it. He shared the noodle soup with his friends who were fond 3 of it. Eventually, it became very popular. That was the origin of beef noodle soup. Oyster Omelet As for the oyster omelet, there is a different story. According to Taiwanese legend, Dutch troops invaded Taiwan in 1661. Zheng Cheng Gong was assigned to beat the foreign force. Yet he found that the enemy had stolen and hidden all the food, especially rice. Challenged by the shortage of food, Zheng’s troops encountered the problem of famines. In order to feed his soldiers, Zheng came up with an idea to use the local sea food – oyster, as their main course. 4 They mixed oyster with sweet potato starch, vegetables and egg to make it an omelet. No one knew that it would turn out to be one of the most popular dim sums (snacks) in Taiwan. 5 The Featured Food for Festivals Different types of food can be almost synonymous with certain festivals. For example, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves is popular during the Dragon Boat Festival, while moon cakes are common during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In this latter festival, the foods are symbolic. The round shape of the moon cakes represents the full moon and the wholeness of the family. They essentially represent community and togetherness, as the moon does. 6 For Taiwanese, the winter solstice is a time to eat healthy foods, such as mutton hot pot, sesame oil chicken, or ginger duck soup. Ginger duck soup was invented by Wu Zhong, a physician of Shang Dynasty. In order to revive his sick king, Wu Zhong put special herbal medicine and ginger roots to stew duck. This stew’s flavor gets better with the seasoning of rice wine and sesame oil, filling the room with a wonderful aroma. It is believed to keep the body warm and help people fight sicknesses. The winter solstice is also celebrated as the Dong Zhi festival. At this time, Taiwanese people take part in an important activity – eating tangyuan. Tangyuan, made of rice flour, is usually plain or stuffed with peanut powder or sesame paste and cooked in sweet soup. It is stuffed with meat, too. 7 The name tangyuan sounds like the Chinese word for “reuniting,” and it is a reminder that we are all a year older after eating tangyuan. So, on the day of the winter solstice, be sure to get together with your family and celebrate this special day. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, Taiwanese usually get together to enjoy a hot pot meal. They usually apply the Wu-Xing principle, known as five elements, in cooking the hot pot. The word 'element' is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a connotation. They believe that the proper order of five elements will offer a "mutual generation" (xiangsheng 相生) sequence. Vegetables of various colors will multiply the effect of their nutrients. 8 So Taiwanese stew turnip (white), mushroom or jew (black), burdock or pumpkin (yellow), carrot or tomato (red), and radish leaves (green) to make the broth. The more colors in the hot pot, the better it will be for the body.