Restaurant Review -- Chishang rice 'railway lunchbox' (Taitung)

Railway lunchboxes are popular in various locations around Taiwan. Well known examples include Fulong in New Taipei City and Alishan in Chiayi County.

Chishang in Taitung County in the country's southeast lies in the East Rift Valley, a well watered area with mild climate ideal for the production of rice, so it is perhaps not surprising that rice based meals were sold from station platforms to passengers passing on trains running between Taitung and Hualien.

Visitors to the township can choose from various restaurants within a few hundred meters of the railway station. With decommissioned trains now equipped with dining tables and exhibits about both rice production and railway history, one of the most popular is Chishang Fanbao (池上飯包) on Highway 9, the main road connecting the dozen or so towns of the rift valley.

A vegetarian lunchbox is available here, but workers acknowledge it is not only "dan-nai su" (蛋奶素; ovo-lacto vegetarian) but also "guo-bian su" (鍋邊素; "pot-edge vegetarian", meaning it is cooked in the same pots as meat products).

They will happily telephone a nearby fully vegetarian establishment and, for NT$70, a lunchbox will be delivered in about ten minutes, which can be consumed with meat-eating friends at this atmospheric restaurant.

NOMM found the local rice to be delicious, but the ratio of fake meat to fresh vegetables was too high.

News Brief: Preservatives in rice products could seriously damage liver, kidneys

Spot checks by Taipei City’s Department of Health of stewed snacks (滷味; lu-wei), noodle dishes, sliced fruit and other food products  found excessive levels of E. coli, TVBS reported today (Chinese-language article here).

Whether the bacteria found in sliced fruit sold in the HiLife convenience store (萊爾富) Xindong branch (信東店), and stewed duck wings (滷鴨翅) sold in A.mart’s (愛買) Jingmei store (景美店) were due to production and packaging processes or to workers’ sanitary conditions requires further investigation, it said.

In addition, rice flour noodles (米粉 and 粄條 ban-tiao) bought in a traditional market in Sanshui Street (三水街) in Taipei’s Wanhua (萬華) District were found to have illegal addition of benzoic acid (苯甲酸) preservatives. Although they looked like any other similar product, on opening the packet, the noodles gave off was a strong chemical odour, and were found to contain 5.19g of benzoic acid preservative per kilogram, meaning that eating just one bowl of noodles would exceed the maximum daily allowance. 

Contravention of the “Act Governing Food Sanitation” (食品衛生管理法) is punishable by fines of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 (ca. US$1-5,000).

Similarly, illegal addition of dehydroacetic acid (DHA; 去水醋酸) preservative was found in two samples of ban-tiao and one sample of gui-a-tiao  noodles (粿仔條). 

Longterm ingestion of preservatives can lead to reduced appetite, growth retardation and even serious damage to liver and kidneys, the DOH said, reminding citizens to carefully inspect external appearance and odour when purchasing foods for immediate consumption.

                                     Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: Recommend Your Favorite (Rice) Restaurants (to NOMM but more so to the COA)

The "First Annual Taiwan Hundred Best Rice Restaurants Competition”(第一屆台灣百大米餐廳大賽; NOMM translation) was launched October 18th by the Council of Agriculture (農業委員會) under the Executive Yuan (Chinese-language details here).

Noting that rice is Taiwan's main cereal crop, and acknowledging the ubiquitous nature and convenience of the Internet, the COA will stage this web-based event to "promote the special outstanding features of Taiwan-produced rice, and to combine energy saving and reduction of carbon emissions with contemporary consumer trends".

Starting at noon on November 30th, all citizens are invited to participate, recommend and vote online, to find the best rice ingredients and finest rice dishes in the nation's 368 townships and urban districts.

                                           

 

                                                       Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011