The king of the Taiwanese specialty food is 潤餠.
It likely is NOT the Lumpia you know.
The number of Taiwanese specialty foods is astounding; their varieties are mind boggling.
Taiwanese may be pleased to know that their traditional all-time-favorite 炒米粉 (Fried rice noodles) is a staple of the ubiquitous Chinese-operated buffet restaurants that dot city blocks in Buenos Aires. Having dined in many such buffet places in San Telmo, Recoleta, and Microcentro, I can say that they taste good, but not as good as traditional Taiwanese 炒米粉, which is moist, and full of goodies and flavors.
As much as I love 炒米粉, the king of the Taiwanese specialty food is 潤餠, in my mind. I hesitate equating 潤餠 to lumpia because Taiwanese 潤餠 is very different from what is commonly known as lumpia.
Taiwanese may be pleased to know that their traditional all-time-favorite 炒米粉 (Fried rice noodles) is a staple of the ubiquitous Chinese-operated buffet restaurants that dot city blocks in Buenos Aires. Having dined in many such buffet places in San Telmo, Recoleta, and Microcentro, I can say that they taste good, but not as good as traditional Taiwanese 炒米粉, which is moist, and full of goodies and flavors.
As much as I love 炒米粉, the king of the Taiwanese specialty food is 潤餠, in my mind. I hesitate equating 潤餠 to lumpia because Taiwanese 潤餠 is very different from what is commonly known as lumpia.
- 潤餠 is itself one whole meal. Lumpia is typically an appetizer.
- In Taiwan, 潤餠 is never deep fried. In Philippine and US, lumpia is almost always. A web site Guam pedia calls lumpia Filipino egg roll.
- 潤餠 is healthy, balanced, and nutritious.
- Tastes wonderful.
- Can be enjoyed by a family, or a gathering of friends, as the main food, or simply the only food, and when done so, is a happy event for all.
- That makes Taiwan 潤餠 a perfect food!
I wrote the following in a biography of my late father-in-law in the 90's in which I described how my ex-wife's family celebrated 潤餠:
做潤餅在黃家就像辦喜事. 二媳婦秀英趕早到市場去張羅材料, 像餅皮, 土豆粉, 蔥, 蒜, 蒜頭, 蝦子, 豬肉, 芹菜, 皇帝豆, 香腸. 大家忙著切菜, 切肉, 煮蝦, 剝蝦殼, 兼也聊天, 交換情報. 近午, 餐廳的圓桌上擺滿著香噴噴的菜料. 黃家大小老少圍著圓桌, 喜氣洋洋地包著, 吃著, 談著, 包著, 吃著, 談著. 陶醉在這快樂的氣氛裹, 我都會想起林太乙替他爸爸林語堂寫的傳記裏 這樣講潤餅: [天下實在沒有什麼比薄餅 (即潤餅) 好吃的了. 廈門人深信這個事實 ] (1992年 聯經版. 150 頁).
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