Cross-strait cuisine

Dear Editor:

Amidst all the politics swirling about us, I was delighted to pick up the October 2003 issue of Sinorama and read your article "Taiwanese Restaurants in the PRC." It was good to see you focusing readers' attention on everyday life. By taking a close look at things such as cooking, we can learn a lot about similarities and differences in the lives of people in Taiwan and the PRC.

There's an old Chinese saying that a family has to be well off for three generations before people really understand how to eat and dress well. If you visit the bookstores in Taipei, you will discover that the shops now have separate sections specifically for books on cuisine, healthy living, and the like. When a society reaches a certain level of affluence, people start getting picky about their food.

Indeed, the act of eating is accompanied by a complex body of learning. For example, you're supposed to heat Shaoxing rice wine before drinking it, a habit based on Chinese concepts concerning how to maintain good health. And when eating the xiaolongbao dumplings at Taipei's famous Ding Tai Fung restaurant, you should first nip off a little corner of the dumpling skin and suck out the juices before eating the filling. These are but a couple examples of how the Chinese treat eating as an aesthetic experience. With our love of good eating and our fine eye for just the right ingredient, we Chinese have taken foods that were originally just regular household dishes and developed them over time into culinary masterpieces.

Cooking is a good "ice breaker" for cross-strait exchange, and can help peo-ple in Taiwan and mainland China to get to know each other. The only slight criticism I would make regarding your article is that it didn't go into detail on cooking techniques with things such as shark fin stew and aloe dishes. And if you had provided a few recipes, the article would have had readers positively salivating and given people multi-sensory enjoyment.

Enjoyed the Sanhsing article>

Chen Wei-fang, New Jersey, USA

Dear Editor:

I've just read the December 2003 issue (overseas edition) of Sinorama. I was extremely delighted to find out that the special report about Ilan County's Sanhsing Village ("A Treasure Deep in the Mountains") in this issue includes a map, directions and even a couple of web sites. Thanks for adding this information to your wonderful report. I hope Sinorama will always include such information in your future reports about community development in Taiwan for the benefit of readers who want to visit these places in person.