's scrumptious culinary offerings are taking an increasingly important place among the nation's tourist attractions.
In 2007 nearly 55 percent of the international tourists visiting Taiwan picked food as one of the major reasons for their sojourn on the island, according to figures from Taiwan's Tourism Bureau. The percentage was even higher for tourists from and , reaching 57 percent and 60 percent respectively. To help spread the word about 's cuisine, the bureau included the Taiwan Food Festival in , the Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival in and trips to night markets in and among the nation's "must-do"--or, more to the point, "must eat"--attractions. Moreover, with the advent of its 2008-2009 Tour project, the bureau expects that the number of tourists visiting this year will reach a historic high of 4.2 million. Thus, if the 55 percent figure from 2007 holds true this year, some 2.3 million visitors will set sampling the nation's food as one of the primary goals of their visit.
Janice Lai, the bureau's director-general, says 's reputation as a tourism destination is growing because of its beautiful scenery, friendly people and scrumptious cuisine. Visitors find that Chinese influences and centuries of colonial rule have left with a rich cultural diversity, which is reflected conspicuously in the island's wide variety of food. From low-cost night market stalls to lavish, top-end restaurants, from Chinese-style dishes to local specialties, 's gastronomic offerings are able to satisfy hungry tourists on virtually any budget.
For Taiwanese, life itself is centered on food. On the streets, the most common greeting heard is "Have you eaten?" And as a Taiwanese idiom goes, "Eating is even more important than the Emperor," meaning that even carrying out a ruler's wishes will just have to wait until after a meal is finished. Business deals are often negotiated or closed while sitting at the dinner table, and family gatherings and social occasions are not considered complete without the presence of great food.
With the rapid development of the Internet and the mass media industry, reviews of restaurants and local food specialties fill television programs, newspapers, magazines and blogs. Ever on the lookout for a taste of something new, families and friends gather together for their own searches for quality eateries and local delicacies. And for many Taiwanese, waiting in long lines to purchase gourmet food seems to be a small price to pay for the mouthwatering delights that come after the long wait. A perfect example is the never-ending queue in front of 's famous dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung, which was rated one of the world's top 10 restaurants by the New York Times in 1993.
Varied Seasonings
owes a large measure of its rich cultural heritage to , especially after the influx of Han immigrants in 1949. This makes a place where one can enjoy all kinds of authentic Chinese food without traveling to each of 's far-flung provinces. In addition to a wide range of Chinese-style cuisines, distinctive Taiwanese, Hakka and aboriginal dishes are winning greater recognition. The waters surrounding also ensure the abundant presence of seafood in local dishes.
Renowned gourmet and food and travel author Yeh Yi-lan points out that the most distinguishing characteristic of 's food is its diversity, an advantage resulting from 's geography. "Being relatively open to the outside world, island nations tend to more readily adopt aspects of other cultures and integrate them into their own," she says.
Yeh compares with the , another island nation, noting that the two countries are both gathering places for gourmet foods from all over the world. "The old impression of English food is that it was bland and tasteless, but now, standing on the streets of , you can find the best Indian, Thai and Chinese dim-sum restaurants, among others," she says, adding that the same phenomenon has occurred in . The Tourism Bureau's Lai agrees, noting that "many cuisines that originated in have been altered and have become more sophisticated in ."
Representing
The downside of having so many great choices is the difficulty of determining which dishes best represent the nation. Hsieh Chung-tao, author of the book Slow Food and a food and travel writer for the magazine Vintage Luxe, believes that is still in the process of discovering its own representative dishes. "It is through exchanging culinary arts and experiences with other cultures that is gaining more understanding of its own cuisine," Hsieh says. Reaching a consensus on which specific dishes best represent may take a long time, he notes, but food events that are currently held on the island--including braised pork rice competitions and beef noodle soup festivals--are an effort to expedite the process.
According to Lai, a project aimed at finding the 15 kinds of food that best represent is just getting started. "Every county and city will recommend their most representative dishes, desserts and food items that are given as gifts. In the end, the top 15 items will be selected by international gourmets," Lai says.
In the quest for the nation's signature food, author Yeh stresses the Taiwanese love of siao chih--literally "small eats"--which are regional snacks that have gradually become popular islandwide. Among other dishes, siao chih includes omelets with oysters and leafy vegetables, originally from in southern , and bawan, which are steamed or fried meatballs inside sweet potato flour dumplings from Changhua, central . These inexpensive treats are usually sold by small family-run restaurants, sidewalk vendors and night market stalls.
Yeh believes the culture of siao chih is closely connected to Taiwanese life. "Siao chih is the kind of food you get in your neighborhood, where you can just walk into a shop with sandals and shorts," she says. "In a way, it mirrors the personality of Taiwanese people: passionate and friendly, easy-going and living with their own style." Yeh believes that siao chih represents grassroots culture. "The charm of folk culture lies in its liberation from specific rules and formats. That's why siao chih, for Taiwanese, is more than a kind of food--it's a way of life."
Another feature of 's cuisine is the high quality ingredients provided by the nation's strong agricultural industries. Yeh recalls the first time she was asked to describe the flavor of Taiwanese food, saying that she couldn't immediately answer the question. After thinking it over, though, she decided that the original taste of fresh ingredients is what gives Taiwanese food its true flavor. "The majority of traditional Taiwanese dishes, including siao chih, are very light and delicate in flavor; most of them are prepared by steaming, blanching and stewing," she says.
Simple and Quick
Yeh explains that these cooking methods reflect the lifestyle of 's early settlers. "The early settlers' life was usually poor and harsh, so they used a very simple and quick way of cooking," she says. This also explains the soup that accompanies many meals and the abundance of broths in local dishes. "Taiwanese food is full of soups and water so that people can quench their thirst while filling their stomach at the same time," Yeh says.