A friend reminisced about food in Taichung

I share my friend's email message below.  I too am from Taichung.  Two unusual food are unforgettable.  I do not know how to express them in Chinese characters.  The following are approximations.

1. 麻葉
2. 大麵庚

The 葉 in 麻葉 needs be pronounced in Taiwanese as tender leaves.

大麵庚 (never pronounced in Mandarin) is not 麵庚.  They were noodles so cooked that there was nearly anything left to be chewed.  Similarly, there is little in 麻葉 that you can chew.  My grandpa used to say that every lunch with 麻葉 caused him to die twice: he would eat so much of it as to become 脹死了, only to be followed with 餓死了 half an hour later.  The master chef of 大麵庚 was a happy, funny old man who shouted out: 大麵庚 ... 賣五角賺一塊, as he walked my neighborhood.   I suspect 大麵庚 became history the moment he did.  

Here is my friend's  reminiscence:

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In winter, what I miss is the street vendor who sell fry foods. My favorite is the 苦阿碟 for Taichung region. It also called 蚵阿煎， fried oyster pancake, I guess. The most famous ones are in 鹿港。

I always stop at the highway rest areas where they sell the 米血， another favorite of mine. Like Prof. Hsiao, I also like Gn liu Ki 五流雞，but that is more a banquet style dish. And of course the 肉粽。 In Taichung area, we do not stir fry the rice. We have a piece of fat pork, a piece of 蚵乾， may be a piece of mushroom. We boil rather than steam the 肉粽. 台中肉丸 is famous. I prefer the one in the 2nd market of Taichung. Other areas, like in Tainan, they have peanut in the rice and I think they steam the 肉粽.

In ChangHua 彰化, my ancestor home, the 老鼠麵 is my favorite. When I was little, my aunties told me that there was rat meat in it, but actually it was call 老鼠麵, because the nick name of the owner was 老鼠. Changhua 肉粽 and 肉丸 are also famous and tasty. There is a restaurant specialized in pig feet. It was really very good. I remember the 老闆 and 老闆娘 used to sit at the front of the shop. Both of them were like 300 pound big. 

And of course, who can forget “tiger bites pig”, the now world famous Taiwan Gua-Bao. It must have pork belly with lots of fat. And, yes, the lun-BiaN -gao 潤餅夾。 

There are so many favorites of mine, can count them all. When we visit Taiwan, foods are always on top of things we need to do. 

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