Observations in Taipei, Taiwan

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post ... I've been in the PRC, which means very little access to blogspot or Facebook. However, tomorrow I head to Jakarta, Indonesia (bring on the durian ice cream, durian donuts, etc) and so I'm staying the night in Hong Kong prior to flying out. Time to update the blog before heading out into this exciting city. By the way, the best way to come into this city is on the ferry from Shenzhen, right into downtown. It costs a little more than taking the train, but what a great way to see the skyline.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Taipei, Taiwan and had a chance to enjoy the city and the people while visiting our office. Posted a pic on facebook of a cool bookstore, but had a chance to go to a night market and really see the local action. and that led me to the discovery of ...

Stinky Tofu! when you are the city, and you want to truly experience a local custom, you must must must try this. The number of people who asked me to try it made me think this was a trick played on most visitors, but it is truly considered a delicacy, so if you want local flavor, then start achompin'. Given some of the other things I've seen eaten, this one didn't seem so bad.

More on "The Stink" in a sec ... first a comment on food at the night market. Mostly it resembles what you might get at a state fair or carnival in the US. Lots of fried and double-fried foods, bold colors, et al. Even though blue is not a food color that occurs in nature, it does occur at the aforementioned state fairs, carnivals and Taipei. Eat at your own risk, but it is pretty fun. I had a bottle of fresh squeezed sugar cane juice and no illness descended upon me. But do treat as a religious mantra "do not drink the tap water."

Back to Stinky Tofu - according to what I was told, given the amount of tofu produced in Taiwan, there are times when production surpasses consumption. I didn't realize this, but tofu can go bad. At this point, it normally gets discarded. However, where some people see waste and loss, one guy saw an opportunity. He took the risk to try deep frying the curdled curd and then serving it with a sauce on something like a piece of flat bread or on a stick (state-fair certified!). It had a distinctive wang, but a few adventurous folks took a nibble, liked it and a local culinary treat was born. To me, it had a flavor a little bit like blue cheese. So if you have the opportunity (and the stomach for it), give it a try. Bon appetit!