‘Taiwan’s culinary scene is nothing if not inventive, so it’s no surprise dozens of guabao variations are available.’

The news Lens
Date: 2017/03/19

What English-speakers often call a ‘Taiwanese hamburger’ is known to Taiwanese people as guabao or ho-ka-ti (“tiger bites pig” in local dialect). This hearty snack of dark brown meat inside a snow-white steamed bun is near the top of many visitors’ “must-eat” lists.

Like several other Taiwanese dishes, the local hamburger doesn’t just give culinary pleasure. Thanks to its auspicious shape – it’s said to look like a purse overflowing with money – it also has a ritual function. For this reason, guabao often appear in the traditional end-of-the-year feasts at which Taiwanese bosses thank their employees for their hard work.

Unlike the round patties found in U.S.-style hamburgers, “Taiwanese hamburgers” feature a single squarish slab of deliciously tender pork belly slightly bigger than a set of playing cards.    [FULL  STORY]

NO WINTER TREAT:Taichung health bureau staff and prosecutors conducted an investigation yesterday because the dumplings are popular at this time of year

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 20, 2016
By: Su Meng-chuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A Taichung food distributor has reportedly been selling glutinous rice balls (tangyuan,

湯圓) containing industrial dyes.

Taichung City Health Bureau staff along with the local prosecutors’ office investigated the local food distributor and uncovered two unmarked containers of dark-colored powder, the bureau said.

A worker at the premises surnamed Chang (張) allegedly confessed to using industrial dyes instead of food colorings in making the tangyuan, the bureau said.

Chang reportedly told investigators that the tangyuan containing the toxic dyes were mostly sold in the traditional markets in the city’s Fengyuan District (豐原).

Under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), the distributor could face up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of up to NT$80 million (US$2.5 million), prosecutors said.

The bureau said it ordered inspections last month ahead of the winter solstice — which this year is tomorrow — when people typically eat tangyuan, adding that investigators made random visits to several vendors and ran food safety tests.

The results of tests became available earlier this month and Rhodamine B was discovered in the samples taken from one vendor who sells about 18kg of tangyuan per week, the bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/16
By: Chang Ming-hsuan, Chen Wei-ting and Christie Chen

Taipei, Dec. 16 (CNA) A total of 37 Japanese food products have been pulled from store shelves in

Taiwan, after they were found to have come from Japan’s radiation-affected areas, Taiwanese authorities said Friday.

As of Thursday, 50,316 pieces of these products have been recalled, with many of them being soy sauce and wasabi packets that came with Japanese natto, or fermented soybeans, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA launched an inspection of food products from Japan on Dec. 12, after two brands of Japanese natto were found to contain packets of soy sauce from Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the five prefectures from which food imports have been banned.

Taiwan banned food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures after the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011.    [FULL  STORY]

The inventor of General Tso’s Chicken and founder of famous Taiwanese Hunan-style restaurant chain Peng’s Garden died in Taipei on Wednesday

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/02
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Chef Peng Chang-kuei (彭長貴), the founder of the famous Hunan-style restaurant chain Peng’s

Garden Hunan Restaurant (彭園湘菜館) and inventor of the world famous Chinese dish General Tso’s Chicken, died on Nov. 30 at the age of 98 from Pneumonia.

A native of Changsha, Hunan Province, Peng began training at the age of 13 under the tutelage of the famous Hunan chef Cao Jing-chen (曹藎臣), who was the family chef of Tan Yan-kai (譚延闓), the prime minister of the Nationalist government from 1926 to 1928. After WWII, he was put in charge of running Nationalist government banquets, and in 1949 he fled to Taiwan after the Kuomintang’s forces were defeated by the communists in the Chinese Civil War.

According to an interview with the China Times, Peng says that his most famous dish was created in 1952 during a four-day visit by U.S. Seventh Fleet commander Admiral Arthur W. Radford. After three days, he had served the guests most of his repertoire of dishes, so to try and mix things up a bit, he decided to chop some chicken into big chunks, fry it to a golden hue and then added a different combination of sauce and seasoning to create a new dish.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 016/11/30
By: Wen Kui-hsiang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) The Cabinet’s top official in charge of food safety said Wednesday that no

decision has been made yet on the importation of food from Japan’s radiation affected areas.

Sheu Fuu (許輔), director of the Office of Food Safety, was responding to reporters’ questions on the government’s reported plan to lift an import ban on food items from five prefectures affected by the nuclear power plant meltdown in Fukushima in March, 2011.

The Cabinet has held two special meetings on the food import issue to discuss matters related to public hearings and to review the topics that will be discussed at those forums, according to Sheu, who assumed the post of food safety director last month.

The Cabinet has not yet formulated a policy on the issue or decided whether to lift the ban, Sheu said.    [FULL  STORY]