Dumplings, Earthquakes, Smelly Tofu, Taipei City

27 March 2013.

Taipei is all about food. Food, food and more food.

Even the 7Eleven down the road from here sells hot food 24/7. You'll find different types of tofu, fish balls, eggs that have been hard-boiled in their cracked shells in tea, thereby staining the egg whites into a lovely tea-brown, marbled effect and some strange sausages that look suspiciously like frankfurter sausages (or weiners as the Americans might say) that look like complete junk food. 

In the refrigerator, there are rows of different types of soya milk, brown rice milk and other types of grain milks. Great if you're sensitive to gluten grains as I am. That reminds me, I have some brown rice milk in the fridge here at my new 'home'. Excuse me while I try some ... Strange consistency. Nothing like Rice Dream that we get in UK supermarkets. This is more like a coffee-coloured Angel's Delight, of a thinner liquid consistency. Comfort food almost. A bit like melted ice-cream.

Yesterday I tried a carton of "Adlay and Brown Rice Milk". The illustration of 'adlay' looked exactly like pearl barley. Amazing stuff it was, with imperceptible bits of ground peanut in. Phwoarr! Yumsville. The soya milk you get in cartons here is of supreme quality compared with out Blighty version. And the proper freshly made soya milk that is found in breakfast cafes here is world famous. Even the Malay Chinese in Kuala Lumpur acquiesce supremacy to their Taiwanese cousins when it comes to 'doh jang, shao bing, yo tiao'. Phwoar, phwoar and phwoar. I'll take some photos when I eventually make it out for a doh jang (hot soya milk) breakfast, so at least you'll be able to see what I'm on about ...

Kind of opposite to the 7Eleven is a cart with a couple in their sixties, I'd say. They are making and selling fresh steamed dumplings - 'siao lung bao' - literally translated as Little Basket Dumplings. Haaaa, little basket dumplings for a dumpling of a basket case like me ...

I can't believe this place. I love this city. I have only ventured about 40 yards from home, and there is so much on my doorstep even at this early hour - when hardly anything's open. I don't even care if the dumplings are 'no good' - they'll be more than good enough for me. I'm going to buy some. I ask how much they are? NT$ 70 for a whole steamer basket or NT$ 35 for a half basket. I go for the latter. And a few yards along I buy myself a 'yo bing'. I am in breakfast heaven.

Maybe it's while I'm drooling over the dumplings - the earthquake in central Taiwan measures 6.1 in magnitude, and tragically kills one person, and injures about 86. There are two tremors that reach Taipei city. I am completely oblivious. I don't find this out until I look on Facebook as a newly acquainted friend works on Taipei Times, and wonders if her office has been hit, and won't have to go to work ...

I wonder how I can miss a 'quake. Am I really such a greedy guts? Probably ...

Moving swiftly on, a notorious Taiwanese speciality is called 'smelly tofu'. It is fermented beancurd that is deep fried, and it comes out all light and almost "fluffy" in texture. It's divine. However, even the most militant vegetarian beancurd devotees have been known to forsake this Taiwanese speciality. The smell of it being deep-fried could well be used for chemical warfare purposes. I guess you either love it or hate it. I LOVE it.

Dad has never tried eating smelly tofu either. Again, it's the pungent odour that turns his stomach and puts him off. Funny considering that we used to live in the most famous street for smelly tofu back in the 1960s. Yong Kang Jie (Yong Kang Street) Remember - I'm using my own made up pinyin again. It's just around the corner from here.

Maybe that's what did it. The close range, daily, olfactory bombardment sealed his intense dislike for it. Much in the same way that deep-frying seals in a minutely sour flavour from the fermented and holey beancurd. I guess a very rough analogy could be drawn by describing it as a slightly sour, holey, immature cow's cheese. It's nowhere as pongy as ripe brie ... err, actually ... I'll let you know when I get my grubby mitts on some soon.

In any case, never mind the smell. If you ever find yourself in Taipei, I urge you to try some smelly tofu. It's fab.