Street Food

[snowangel]

I spent a few months in Taiwain as part of my college career. I had grown up in Thailand (great street food), moved to Minnesota to go to college (no street food), and when I spent that time in Taiwan, rediscovered street food. While not all of it was "walk and eat," it certainly elevated "fast food" to a different height.

No particular question about street food, just your thoughts.

[awbrig]

you didnt acquire a taste for dog did you?

(just kidding) ive just heard stories about Street Food...

Edited December 5, 2002 by awbrig (log)

[eatingwitheddie]

I spent a few months in Taiwain as part of my college career.  I had grown up in Thailand (great street food), moved to Minnesota to go to college (no street food), and when I spent that time in Taiwan, rediscovered street food.  While not all of it was "walk and eat," it certainly elevated "fast food" to a different height.

No particular question about street food, just your thoughts.

I have spent some time (not enough) in Taipei. As you pointed out there is a whole street food scene there. In particular I remember 'Snake Alley'. A pedestrians only area perhaps 3 blocks long, it is filled with small storefront food stalls, each with its own specialty. Some of the stalls have a bit of interior space with a handful of tables and chairs. The prototypical offering is a little pancake topped with tiny oysters and a bit of green vegetable which is then folded and put in a glassine bag. Actually it is really only one of many many things available. I remember a 'juice' vendor with three offerings where everything was freshly made. Orange juice was dispensed from a Rube Goldberg type contraption, sugar cane juice out of a press, and then there was the freshly drained snake blood! It was obtained the old-fashioned way. Yum! Snake alley was the first place I saw large perfect speciman apples individually wrapped and sold for a king's ransom (the same price as a lobster). On one trip here I was taken around the corner to a small restaurant that was named something along the lines of 'Wild Animal Restaurant'. It seemed to have about 8 tables and 12 cages. I had been to the zoo earlier that day and saw many types of Asian animals for the first time. I have always taken note (in my brain) that in spite of visiting the zoo, the only one of the 12 animals that was familiar to me was the anteater. This restaurant was the Taipei version of a game festival. You just had to point and they would do the dirty deed and then cook. No worries about aging or even rigor mortis. A very different approach than we have in Western culture.

Friends from from HK always talk fondly about the street food they grew up with. It was a major and accessible part of their culinary life and one that really can't be found here in anything resembling the same format. 'Dai Pai Dong' is the phrase that describes this 'cuisine'. Small little eateries dispensing everything from stews over rice, to BBQ'd goose (goose not duck is the thing in HK), to that genuinely famous afternoon snack, turtle jelly w. sugar syrup, are all over town. One afternoon a friend who took me on a series of HK tours introduced me to a snack shop that specialized in a beverage and a bun. Their specialty was a hot drink called 1/2 and 1/2. It was half coffee and half tea. I haven't cultivated a taste for it quite yet.

[eatingwitheddie]

you didnt acquire a taste for dog did you?

(just kidding)  ive just heard stories about Street Food...

I have a journalist friend who got an assignment to write about eating dog in the US. He came to me for assistance and I am happy to report no success in this area. Couldn't find any for dinner (or lunch). Not in the US.

In China, in Canton in particular, dog is definitely consumed. However it is Koreans who seem to eat it the most. Dogs are primarily consumed during the winter. Purportedly for helping the consumer to acclimate to the cold

My eldest son attended college in Beijing for a while and ate dog a couple of times. You've probably heard that catch all line, 'it taste like chicken'. well it also 'tastes like lamb'. He stopped short of ordering the dishes featuring dog's skin.