Taiwan food and discovery – the Taiwan Culinary Exhibition

Joy Clark gets a comprehensive flavour of Taiwan food culture

During our week-long Taiwanese food adventure we were invited to the official opening of the Taiwan Culinary Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Centre. The exhibition is touted as a ‘gourmet cuisine carnival bringing out the essence of Taiwan’s food culture.’ We take our seats among the media pack and are excited to see the Vice President of Taiwan, Chen Chien-Jen, arrive to deliver a speech.

Last year 11.7 million attended the expo and this year the number was expected to reach well over 12 million during the four-day event. Countries invited include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mainland China, Korea and the Philippines. A truly global culinary happening.

Apart from the main pavilion which houses dishes from all regions, including China’s eight major cuisines, Taiwanese cuisine, aboriginal cuisine, Hakka-style cuisine and ‘new immigrant’ dishes, there are two culinary classrooms where would-be chefs can learn how to make Taiwanese favourites such as salted egg yolk pumpkin, winter melon bubble tea and cold noodles. This area also features live cooking performances with popular chefs from various regions.

We slowly make our way around the pavilion tasting all kinds of delicacies, some are familiar and others that are way out of the norm, such as stinky tofu! This is one dish I definitely won’t be revisiting but you can’t visit Taiwan without trying it for yourself – if you dare.  The culinary exhibition may not be on when you visit Taipei, but fear not, all of these unusual and interesting dishes are served up on the street or at night markets year-round.

Our second highlight of the day is dinner at the famous Michelin starred Din Tai Fung restaurant.  Noted as the home of ‘the world’s tastiest dumplings,’ we were thrilled to be able to experience the original in Taipei.  As if that wasn’t enough, we were also introduced to the original owner’s son Yang Ji-hua, who is now CEO.  Mr. Yang holds court at the restaurant every night, seven days a week.  He told us, interpreted through his head waiter, "If my staff are working so hard, I should be there to support them. They work for me – how can I take a day off?"

Din Tai Fung was founded in Taipei in 1972 and today is now a true global entity. It has 119 branches in 14 countries including Australia, USA, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.

The chefs work non-stop from opening to closing, rolling, stuffing, folding and steaming, as diners watch them weave their magic through the glass wall as they work. Each dumpling is meticulously folded 18 times, and watching the chef’s nimble fingers, you are in no doubt he has honed this skill over a long period of time.

In fact, each chef trains for two to three years at the restaurant as they have to learn each and every part of the process. There are 30 chefs working at one time and after one hour they rotate so they don’t get too tired (rolling out the dumplings sure looks like hard work).

Our last stop of the evening is the Raohe Street Night Market. We see stall upon stall of the most inviting foods and delacacies. After our dumpling adventure we are no longer hungry but we are wide-eyed just trying to take everything in. We had a hard time resisting the temptation!

The writer was a guest of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau/Taiwan Visitors Association