Hsinchu's rice noodles, pork balls and meat pasties owe their reputation to the fact they have been produced for over a century, getting better with time and never losing their popularity.

For an outsider visiting Hsinchu, it's almost impossible to forget about the city's specialities, promoted as they are from shop signs large and small in every direction. This is particularly true for rice-flour noodles and pork balls, which can be packaged for home preparation or eaten hot at snack-stalls throughout the city, in the form of rice noodle soup, fried noodles, pork ball soup and so on.

But rice noodles and pork balls can be found throughout Taiwan and are unlikely to have originated in Hsinchu. So how come they are vaunted as local specialities?

A taste of nature

Rice noodles, or similar types of rice-flour-based food, can be found in virtually every region where rice is grown. It is said that rice noodles have been known in the Yangtze River region since the 5th century BC, when the country was ravaged by tribal invaders from the north. Perhaps people fleeing the fighting found it difficult to lug sacks of rice with them, so instead they ground the rice to a pulp and flattened it into strips, which were then boiled and dried, resulting in an easily transportable food that could be stored for long periods.

Rice noodle production came to Taiwan with early migrants from southern China, and in particular from the Hui-an area of Fujian province. Kuo Yuan-yuan, owner of a Hsinchu rice-noodle firm, describes how rice noodles came to the city: "Around 100 years ago a noodle-maker from Hui-an, by the name of Kuo, moved from Tamsui down to Hsinchu, where he found that the strong wind and bright sunshine were good for drying noodles. His three brothers and their families moved here too, and so began the local rice noodle industry."

They settled at a place that was then called Nanshih, on the banks of Koya Stream (a tributary of Touchien Stream)-a windy location with plenty of paddy fields. As the Kuo family began to expand, most of the sons chose to stay in the area and work in rice noodle production, with the result that Nanshih came to be known as "rice noodle cottages." Today, it is the part of Hsinchu around Lane 357 of Yenping Road.

Favorable natural conditions give Hsinchu rice noodles a firm, al dente texture and allow them to be produced in great volume, which is why they have been renowned throughout Taiwan ever since the Japanese colonial period. Says Kuo Yuan-yuan: "There used to be over 100 noodle firms along this lane when business was booming." Unfortunately only around 20 remain today, because young people are not interested in joining a trade which involves such long hours, working through the night in sweltering conditions to get the noodles ready for sun-drying in the morning.

However, output continues to grow thanks to automation, and Kuo's "Nanhsing Rice Noodle Factory" now produces up to 3000 kg of rice noodles daily, mainly for consumption in the Hsinchu area.

Boiled or steamed?

As well as having a distinctive texture, Hsinchu rice noodles are famed for a particular type of extra-fine noodle that feels silky soft in the mouth. Rice noodles were traditionally fairly thick, and were known as "water noodles" because they had to be boiled in a big pan of water. Developments in molding technology later made it possible to produce needle-thin noodles, which simply need to be steamed rather than boiled, and these are called "cooking noodles"-from the Taiwanese word for "steaming." They may be just "rice noodles" to most people, but as insiders know, to earn the respect of a noodle vendor you should specify whether you want "water noodles" or "cooking noodles."

Nowadays, Hsinchu rice noodles are being developed as a form of convenience food. There are instant rice noodles, and rice noodles made with added ingredients such as spinach, carrot and taro. And in May, after more than a year of planning, Kuo Yuan-yuan launched the "Old Pot Leisure Farm"-a display center showing the history of the rice noodle industry and offering do-it-yourself noodle-making for visitors.

Great balls of pork!

Like rice noodles, pork balls are a traditional food with a long history. They are made by pounding chopped pork to a pulp and rolling it into one-inch balls, which are eaten boiled. Hsinchu doesn't have any special advantages that make it suitable for pork ball production, but it enjoys a good reputation for pork balls thanks to the conscientious use of good ingredients and hand production by the early makers, along with clever branding for their products. For example the Hai-jui brand, which is known throughout Taiwan, was originally developed back in the 1950s and 60s, when most people in Taiwan were still in the dark about building up brand names. The owner set up a business and a brand name, and retailed the product throughout the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli region, employing the refrigeration technology that was then used for fish and prawns and creating the perception that for pork balls, it had to be Hai-jui's of Hsinchu.

These days, Hai-jui pork balls are available throughout the whole of Taiwan, but visitors to Hsinchu still often go straight to the original Hai-jui outlet in Hsimen Street, to stock up on the product. Says one consumer: "Their pork balls are something else. Large and firm, and not greasy. And if you boil them for longer they don't come loose and fall apart."

In Hsinchu itself, many people object to frozen pork balls, which are machine-made and mass-produced. Instead, they prefer freshly-cooked pork balls that have been made on-site by hand, and this is what can be found on numerous stalls in the city's main traditional markets, like Tungmen Market, Nanmen Market, Chulien Market and Kuantung Bridge Market, as well as in the surrounding lanes and alleys. It's a fiercely competitive business, and it takes many years of good word-of-mouth to build a strong reputation. As eager pork ball purchasers know, the most popular stalls sell out quickly so you have to get to there early.

Of course, some credit for the fame of Hsinchu's rice noodles and pork balls must go to the temple of the city god. The sight of all the food stalls clustered around the entrance to the temple, offering all manner of steaming hot treats, is enough to make your chopstick fingers twitch. Since anyone who eats here naturally spreads the word to others, the temple is considered a landmark in the world of Hsinchu snackfood.

Hsinchu's century-old cake shop

The third type of tasty treasure for which Hsinchu is renowned, is the chuchien meat pasty.

Investigation of this also necessitates a visit to the area in front of the city god temple. The Hsinfuchen cake shop stands at the head of Peimen Street, looking brand new behind its festive red facade. In fact, this is Hsinchu's oldest cake shop, home for 100 years of the ever-popular chuchien meat pasty.

It was Wu Chang-huan, founder of the Hsinfuchen cake shop, who created the chuchien pasty. Wu originally ran a stall outside the city god temple selling meat rice-dumplings, and came up with the idea of taking the rice-dumpling filling, which was made from red onions, lard and ground meat, and wrapping it into the form of a palm-sized pasty. With its sweet yet savory taste, and flaky outer coating, the new pasty was an instant hit, and proved to be an excellent accompaniment for tea. Wu named it the "chuchien" pasty, after the old name for Hsinchu, and promptly opened up her own store-the Hsinfuchen.

That was back in 1898, and as the shop has developed its range of goods has of course expanded, so that it now sells popular Western-style bread and cakes, Japanese mochi and bean-jelly sweets, and Hong Kong Laopo pastries. But Hsinfuchen's best seller is still its signature product, the chuchien meat pasty. The shop is also well known for its "steamed sponge cake"-which is steam-cooked rather than being baked in an oven-and its "ladies comb pastry," filled mainly with garlic paste and named for its similarity in shape to a traditional comb. As a successful modern cake shop, Hsinfuchen also presents its wares in tasteful, vintage-style packaging for the wedding gift market.

Unlike rice noodles and pork balls, chuchien pasties are not found everywhere in Hsinchu. Others have copied the Hsinfuchen product, but Hsinchu people maintain that the originals are still the best and most authentic, and insist that for the right flavor and texture, a chuchien pasty must come from the hand of a master pasty chef. Mass-produced pasties just can't compare. Nevertheless, cake shops from other areas are expanding into Hsinchu, and Hsinfuchen is therefore planning to widen its operations by opening new branches.

In search of treats

In addition to the snacks sold at the little stalls crowded around the entrance to the temple of the city god, there are plenty of other traditional foods to be found in the tight web of streets and historic sites of Hsinchu's city center. These include round meat dumplings, meat broth, duck noodles and Hakka-style broad rice noodles. The year before last, Hsinchu municipal cultural center organized a community event on the theme of "snackfood," and compiled a book featuring information about 70 of the city's better known snackfood establishments. The city's international-grade tourist hotels also run occasional dining events on the theme of Hsinchu's speciality foods.

Whether you search for specific places, or simply wander where you please, sampling snacks and gathering up local specialities is one of the unmissable pleasures of exploring Hsinchu!

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All day long visitors throng the cluster of little stalls at the entrance to the City God Temple. Everyone who comes here helps spread the reputation of Hsinchu snackfood. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)

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(Rice noodles)

(Pork balls)

(Meat dumplings)

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(Chuchien pasties)

(Steamed sponge cake)

(Ladies comb pastries)

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Hsinchu rice noodles are famed for being tasty, smooth and chewy-which is partly thanks to the strong winds that blow all year round in this region.

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Kuo Yuan-yuan, who owns a rice-noodle firm, has opened The Old Pot Leisure Farm, which features a rice-noodle museum and on-site noodle production, and lets visitors see for themselves the hard work that goes into making rice noodles. The farm also provides a record of Hsinchu's local speciality.

Springy pork balls, and plump, chewy meat dumplings are local specialities in Hsinchu. They are handmade, and you can taste the difference.

Rice noodles.

Pork balls.

Meat dumplings.

Chuchien pasties.

Steamed sponge cake.

Ladies comb pastries.

Hsinchu rice noodles are famed for being tasty, smooth and chewy--which is partly thanks to the strong winds that blow all year round in this region.

Springy pork balls, and plump, chewy meat dumplings are local specialities in Hsinchu. They are handmade, and you can taste the difference.

Kuo Yuan-yuan, who owns a rice-noodle firm, has opened The Old Pot Leisu re Farm, which features a rice-noodle museum and on-site noodle production, and lets visitors see for themselves the hard work that goes into making rice noodles. The farm al so provides a record of Hsinchu's local speciality.

Springy pork balls, and plump, chewy meat dumplings are local specialities in Hsinchu. They are handmade, and you can taste the difference.