EditorTaiwan PAPERSKY no.49 Taiwan | Hoja! (delicious!)

The history of food and cooking in Taiwan is as deep as the ocean that surrounds the mountainous island. In Taiwanese cuisine influences from all of mainland China can be found; in addition Japanese styles are prevalent and native Taiwanese dishes live on as well. Taiwan’s unique variation of Chinese regional cooking styles mixed with aboriginal Taiwan as well as Taiwan’s past rulers: the Dutch, Spanish and later Japanese have created a literal melting pot of some of the world’s top cuisines.

In Taiwan, unlike Japan or Western Nations, Taiwanese people still largely eat Taiwanese food. It’s not like in many cities where eating Japanese on one night, Italian the next, a hamburger the next and then a bit of Thai food has become the norm. Of course there are foreign restaurants, for an occasional taste of abroad, but all in all Taiwanese people eat Taiwanese food. And people also eat out a lot. Every night in numerous neighborhoods throughout the country small food stalls are set up and as the sun sets the smells of Braised Pork Rice, Beef Noodles, Gua Bao Buns, and Dumplings fill the evening air and draw the city to the ultimate daily outdoor night festival. In these outdoor markets food becomes both a mechanism to fill and nourish one’s stomach and body as well as a place to invigorate one’s soul; as the markets connect individuals with family, and neighbors thereby naturally giving Taiwanese people a sense of community.

In this issue of Papersky we hit the kitchens of some highly creative Taiwanese gentleman. We wanted to show the ‘real’ Taiwan flavor by showing what natives are cooking up in their own kitchens. We focused on what the guys were cooking because in general they were making simpler dishes then their female compatriots and in this issue of Papersky we wanted to provide readers with genuine Taiwanese recipes that were simple and could be made at home.
Hoja !

» PAPERSKY #49 Taiwan | Cook Issue

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