"taiwan" news and stories

Sausage in Taipei. From Flickr user paco2046.

I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.

Previously-- Midnight Sausage: Washington State

"Taking the international sweet tooth by storm." Surely such a phrase could only have been penned by the a PR person for an ice-cream chain.

And so it has.

This gem comes from the press release announcing Cold Stone Creamery's expansion into Mexico and Southeast Asia. I'll admit it's a better turn of phrase than "taking the international sweet tooth by cavity." Full disclosure, I've never eaten the Creamery's ice cream, I suppose I should since there's one in a mall near my house.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based purveyor of fresh-made ice-cream that's blended to order with mix-ins on, you guessed it, a cold stone, started scooping up international markets back in 2005, when it opened its first overseas store in Tokyo. Since then Coldstone has opened 22 more stores throughout Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.

Its first Mexican store will open in September. There's been no word yet as to whether the Creamery stores South of the Border will forgo the signature stone slab in favor of a gigantic molcajete y tejolote to mix the ingredients with the ice cream. The company's next international markets will be Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. I don't think it's gonna happen, but I'd love to see the Creamery's Southeast Asian stores use young coconut, jackfruit and some of the brightly colored gelatinous squiggles that are a staple of the region's frozen confections.

Source

In the past it wasn't so, but now it looks like Asia has taken on the challenge and stepped up to bat in the organic produce game. Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and most especially China have moved into the game. So far China is producing 85% of the organics in the region, but the other countries are gearing up and increasing production every year. The quality they produce is very good, with China growing excellent crops at great prices.

Europe and North America currently consume a vast majority of the worlds organic produce with Asia only just starting to join in, but they are starting to catch up. Since organic still costs more to produce each of these countries consumes less by far than they export. The West consumes organics for a variety of reasons from perceived health benefits to sustainability, animal welfare, humanitarian reasons, and environmental concerns; while the East's focus is primarily on the supposed health benefits. Although "Buddhist countries like Thailand and Singapore also tend to favour organic production because of its perceived harmony with nature."

There is a tendency that as production goes up, prices should come down, and so organic foods will be more in demand domestically in Asia over the next few years as well. So expect to see more and more of the world's high quality organic produce coming from Asia in the next decade as additional countries join in, and production rises dramatically.

Source

The news isn't that the Taiwanese government just realized that excessive caffeine can cause symptoms such as upset stomach, dizziness, anxiety, bad moods and trouble at work after a month-long study. Don't people know this already?!?!

The news is that coffee shops in Taiwan have added caffeine-content advisories to their menus with that warning from health officials. It's a color coded system: coffee drinks with more than 200 mg of caffeine get a red mark, caffeine levels of 100-200 mg get yellow, and drinks with less than 100 mg get green.

Someone please tell me why I have never seen a Hello Kitty Patisserie in the United States. Why? Why?!?

I know. It sounds ridiculous. And I can't believe that when I read about it over on A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei, I actually felt the my inner little girlie girl shriek with delight. She many have even clapped her tiny hands together. All of the pastries are adorned in some way with the little mouthless kitty that we all love, whether the image is stamped into the dough, or accessorized with some candy, kitty-shaped confection. The bakery wraps your purchases up and send you off with a giant Hello Kitty bag.

Does it taste good? Who cares? It's Hello Kitty! (But according the Hungry Girl, some were forgetable, while others were "actually pretty tasty").