Two years ago, when I was in Beijing on assignment, some local friends generously invited me for dinner at a little restaurant. There they enthusiastically went over the menu for me item by item, encouraging me to try these genuine Beijing dishes that, they said, "you can't get in Taipei." Yet, the taste was that exact same delicious flavor that I have been eating at the Tung Ching Lou restaurant in Taipei ever since I was a little girl. How odd that "Beijing cuisine" would remind me so much of home.

Even before that, when I was in Xiamen for a story on Chen Jiageng, a leading figure among emigrants from Fujian Province in the early Republican era, I got a chance to try the ou-a-jian (oyster omelet), which was Chen's favorite dish. Although the oysters on the white porcelain dish were small, they gave off a rich aroma that the fat chunky oysters in Taiwan just don't have. There was no starch, no sweet and hot sauce, no cabbage, just a simple platter of oysters and eggs, but still it tasted great. It was only then that I realized why the early immigrants to Taiwan were so deeply attached to ou-a-jian.

In terms of cuisine, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are closely intertwined. When the Nationalist regime retreated to Taiwan in 1949, with it came famous chefs, skilled cooks, and family recipes from all over China. Taiwan's culinary map became, just like the street layout of Taipei, a microcosm of China, from Manchuria to Sichuan and everywhere in between. Since then dishes from Xinjiang, Shanghai, and Shanxi have been pleasing the palates of Taiwanese, as have specialties from Sichuan, Hunan, and Henan. All over Taiwan are people carrying the torches of China's main culinary traditions.

On top of this foundation, over the last fifty years, economic growth and internationalization in Taiwan have lit new flames and added new styles of cooking. In addition, decor and atmosphere have become an important part of the dining experience. The resulting culinary culture has in recent years been "re-exported" to the mainland, creating quite a stir wherever it appears. Thus for example, Taiwan's Ding Tai Fung, which serves world famous xiaolongbao, has gotten loads of attention in Shanghai, the original home of the xiaolongbao. And traditional street fare like stove-fried bread and soybean milk has been turned into a kind of trendy cuisine served in clean and pleasant surroundings. Taiwan has brought internationalized and modernized Chinese cuisine into mainland China, "spicing up" the cross-strait relationship in the most practical and direct of manners.

Will the evolution of food serve as a metaphor for the whole relationship? Recently all the major political parties in Taiwan have been at war over the issue of public referenda, amidst dark hints from the United States and overt threats from the PRC. One cannot help but sigh. When we were small, "recovering the mainland" was the unquestionable mission of the nation, and "pacifism" was a betrayal of the country and an evasion of moral responsibility. Yet no matter what political slogans may have declared, no matter how popular nostalgic soap operas about the mainland were or how authentic the cuisine remained, none of these things could overcome one basic fact-the two sides were separated for 40 years, during which there was no contact, families were separated, no one traveled to see the mainland's famous scenery, and all we could know about what was going on behind the PRC's "bamboo curtain" were shocking photographs of famine years.

Not surprisingly, mainland Chinese soldiers who came to Taiwan with the Nationalist government eventually gave up hope of returning to their homes, and began to marry Taiwanese women and set their roots down in Taiwan. Over time, the myths and dreams maintained by the political elite became increasingly divorced from reality.

Today, although we are in another time and space, the standoff between the two governments is again far removed from the day-to-day reality of the people. There are tens of thousands of Taiwanese companies in the mainland, from large conglomerates to small enterprises, making a critical contribution to all aspects of the mainland's economic growth and culture, yet Beijing still arrogantly chastises Taiwanese for allegedly betraying the Chinese nation. On the other hand, there are 300,000 Taiwanese businessmen and their dependents living in the PRC, more than 100,000 Taiwanese have taken mainland Chinese brides, and it is now common for people to go to the PRC for work, schooling, medical treatment, or retirement, making one suspect that the idea in Taiwan of rejecting everything Chinese just may need to be reconsidered.

As usual, what's being cooked up by politicians is not nearly as appetizing as what is being cooked up in restaurants. Now that winter is approaching, we hope you will gather around a bubbling hotpot, put aside all your troubles, and have a taste of the feast we have prepared for you. Bon appetit.