In recent years Taiwanese snacks have repeatedly been served at state banquets for foreign guests. These back-street flavors that normally attract little attention not only satisfy our taste buds, but also represent our culinary culture.
Our Cover Story this month features stories on four popular everyday snack foods that typify Taiwanese culture and human connections: bawan, gua bao, radish cake, and braised pork over rice. Reporters visited locales across the island to help readers better understand Taiwan through our dietary culture, the local linkages of different dishes, and the cooking techniques involved.
Historical memories connect people across generations. No doubt many people have memories from childhood of the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone (now the Cianjhen Technology Industrial Park), which symbolizes the beginning of Taiwan’s economic miracle and brought “Made in Taiwan” products to the world. Meanwhile, the book Loveboat, Taipei, which made the New York Times bestseller list for Young Adult Fiction, is being made into a film shot in Taiwan, thereby bringing this story about Chinese-American students who join a China Youth Corps summer camp in the 1990s to the silver screen.
In this issue’s Entrepreneurship segment, we explore Taiwan’s competitive advantages in machinery manufacturing from the perspective of branding. We also bring you reports on how biotechnology is being used to transform two waste products—silkworm pupae and mung bean hulls—into animal feed and pet food as part of the circular economy, and on the diverse development of the bamboo industry.
What lies behind the creation of 30 volumes of early childhood teaching materials in the languages of seven Southeast-Asian countries? What motivated Professor Yeh Yu-ching of National Chiayi University to assemble a large team to produce printed books and e-books with pronunciation by real native speakers, as well as online tests and games? We look at how these materials can help the children of immigrants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam get a grounding in their parents’ mother tongues as well as build friendship between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
A bowl of Changhua braised pork over rice includes pork, soy sauce, and scallions. Some vendors add sugar cane or clams to the recipe, adding a different note to the flavor. Just as this dish is a blend of many delicious ingredients, the dish we call “Taiwan” combines the efforts of people in many diverse fields. Having been tempered by time, Taiwan can stand up proudly and shine on the world stage.
