You've got the late-night munchies but you don't feel like hitting the food stalls in the night market--what's to be done?

No problem! Just head for the corner convenience store, open the freezer, take out a pack of frozen mi-fen (Chinese vermicelli), shao-mai (Chinese ravioli) or shui-chiao (Chinese dumplings), pop it in the microwave for a minute or two, take it home and eat your fill--it's quick, easy and sanitary.

Fast Food Culture: Besides, in today's increasingly hectic world, when most of our time is taken up by jobs and by sitting in traffic and when most of us eat just to fill our stomachs, the only people who can spend a lot of time on cooking are professional chefs and full-time housewives.

"Social changes and changes in lifestyles are the main reasons frozen foods have become so popular," says Lawrence Lee, director of sales at Leonine Enterprises Limited and a promoter of the Chinese Frozen Foods Institute. Given today's hectic pace and the fact that there are more and more singles and two-person families in which both spouses work, all of us rely to some degree or other on the speed and convenience of frozen foods.

According to the frozen food associations of Japan and Denmark, the country with e highest per capita consumption of frozen foods in the world in 1990 was the United States, with 51 kilos per person, followed by Denmark and Sweden. Japan, where eating habits are rather similar to ours, has a per capita consumption of about 10.8 kilos, 11th in the world and the highest in Asia.

As for Taiwan? Based on imports and on domestic sales of local manufacturers, the Council of Agriculture estimates that we consumed about 6.3 kilos of frozen food per person in 1990.

"Generally speaking, the more advanced a country is and the higher its per capita income, the larger its frozen food consumption will be," says Chen Chien-pin, a specialist at the Council of Agriculture. "It's not just because people are in more of a hurry. It also involves the concept of a modern way of life."

Fresher than Fresh: It takes more than just freezing to produce frozen food; the ingredients also have to be properly prepared and processed first. Fish, for instance, have to be cleaned and gutted, and shao-mai and pao-tzu (Chinese buns) have to be stuffed and cooked. All the work is completed in the plant.

Since the processing is all taken care of beforehand, the consumer doesn't have to use up water or energy resources in cooking. "That's a big plus for environmental protection and energy conservation," Chen says.

Most foods can be preserved for a year at minus 18 degrees centigrade, and so that's the standard temperature for maintaining frozen food at present. Frozen shrimp will keep for a year at that temperature, and even vegetables and fruit, which are considered the hardest foods to preserve, can be kept for as long as 16 months.

Because of these advantages, frozen foods began to be promoted in the advanced countries of Europe about 10 years ago, the slogan being, "Frozen food is even fresher than fresh."

Frozen foods like fish and shrimp dumplings came out on Taiwan more than 10 years ago, but it wasn't until eight years ago (1984) that the Council of Agriculture took up official responsibility for promoting frozen food and educating makers, retailers and the public on its advantages.

Additional Guarantee: Besides giving away free recipe books, the Council has set up the Chinese Frozen Foods Institute in conjunction with the frozen food industry and has sponsored frozen food cooking classes. "The response from most people has been pretty good," Chen says.

In 1989 the Council of Agriculture and the Department of Health launched a fancy frozen food (3F) labeling program with a TV ad campaign featuring a cartoon pig and chicken telling consumers, "3F means an additional guarantee of goodness."

By the end of November 1990, the 3F label had been granted to 247 items produced by 25 firms, including dumplings, wontons, stuffed buns, spring rolls, hamburgers, french fries and other popular foods.

Thanks to the Council's big push, frozen foods have won growing acceptance in recent years. Every time there's a typhoon, the consumption of frozen fruits and vegetables cranks up a notch or two and stays there.

The frozen food market has been growing by about 30 percent a year recently. Imports totaled about US$230 million in 1990 and domestic sales around US$180 million. The market is still at an initial stage, but "considering past development overseas, the growth rate has been pretty good," Chen says.

Not Like Mother Used to Make: Nonetheless, there are inherent limitations to the sale of frozen foods in Taiwan. One reason is the Chinese are fastidious eaters who have always paid a great deal of attention to good food. For another, given the economic boom over the past decade or so, tasty restaurants are a dime a dozen, lowering the convenience advantage of frozen food in comparison.

"Frozen food just doesn't have 'mother's touch,'" says Li Ping-cheng, who works in a bank and is single. He prefers to eat in a cafeteria usually and stays away from frozen food.

In addition, frozen foods aren't widely popular yet because most people don't know enough about using microwave ovens and because many of the foods are prepared the wrong way in the factory.

According to electric appliance firms, about one in every three families on Taiwan owns a microwave, but "most people use it for warming up leftovers instead of cooking," says Lawrence Lee, who thinks most families neglect its main purpose.

What's more, most frozen foods are cooked too thoroughly by manufacturers and tend to lose their flavor when they're reheated, so finicky eaters have a bad impression of them.

Room for Improvement: "Frozen foods for reheating in the microwave should only be cooked halfway by the manufacturer," says Jamin C.M. Wang, director of marketing at Laurel Enterprises Corp. But locally made processing machinery is poor at controlling how thoroughly food is cooked, and "frozen food makers still have a way to go in improving their production methods."

From the firms' standpoint, however, it's a highly competitive market, and the economic effects of investing in research are hard to predict. Most companies don't want to fiddle with the methods they already use.

Another obstacle in promoting frozen foods in Taiwan is lack of variety. There are only about 80 different kinds here so far, as compared with more than 2,000 in Japan. Local makers have to work harder at product development to give consumers more choice and expand the market.

The most popular prepared frozen foods at present are mostly Chinese dishes. According to the Council of Agriculture, the top ten in order of consumption are pork shui-chiao (dumplings), pork and chive shui-chiao, ts'ung-yu ping (scallion cakes), hsiang-su (crisp fried) shrimp, sesame pao-tzu (stuffed buns), ko-le ping (meat and potato patties), hamburger meat, shih-mu-yu wan (milkfish balls), pork pao-tzu and breaded chicken.

"The sales volume of dumplings alone is 10 million a day," Chen says.

Different Habits: Chinese food is famous around the world, but people in the West eat differently, and the overseas market for Chinese frozen food isn't very big at present.

Laurel, which started making Chinese frozen food in 1970, is the biggest exporter, but so far it's only reached the stage of "wherever you find overseas Chinese, you'll find Laurel"--it hasn't been able to go truly global just yet.

Makers are still full of confidence about putting Chinese frozen food on the world market though. "Chinese food is world famous for its fine flavor, and modernizing traditional cuisine is something we can work toward," says Jamin Wang, who feels that frozen food is a trend of the times. If Chinese people, who hold great stock in the "culture of eating," can add a Chinese touch to the trend, then maybe frozen food won't just be quick and convenient anymore, but delicious!

[Picture Caption]

Frozen food solves the cooking headaches of busy nine-to-fivers.

Chinese-style frozen foods are popular with people on Taiwan, but there still aren't enough varieties.

Frozen foods are quick, easy and convenient to prepare. All the ingredients for a big hot pot dinner can be bought in one stop at the supermarket.

Microwave ovens are perfect for cooking frozen foods, but most families use them just to reheat leftovers, limiting their usefulness.

Chinese-style frozen foods are popular with people on Taiwan, but there still aren't enough varieties.

Frozen foods are quick, easy and convenient to prepare. All the ingredients for a big hot pot dinner can be bought in one stop at the supermarket.

Microwave ovens are perfect for cooking frozen foods, but most families use them just to reheat leftovers, limiting their usefulness.