China News Agency, Beijing, December 29th: How is the Chinese "genetic code" in Taiwanese cuisine composed?

　　——Interview with Taiwanese gourmet Zhu Zhenfan

　　China News Agency reporter Lu Mei

　　There are more than 23 million people in Taiwan, of which more than 80% are descendants of Fujian and Cantonese, and their eating habits are similar to those of Fujian and Guangdong.

After 1949, people from all corners of the country brought their hometown food to Taiwan.

Under the background of different times, food from all over the world has developed, merged and innovated in Taiwan, forming the well-known Taiwanese food.

Taiwanese gourmet Zhu Zhenfan recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxiwen" to analyze the Chinese "genetic code" in Taiwanese cuisine.

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Agency reporter: What is the context of Taiwan's food development?

Zhu Zhenfan:

In the early years, people who crossed the sea to Taiwan from the mainland were mainly Fujianese. Now more than 70% of the population of Taiwan is composed of descendants of immigrants from southern Fujian. Therefore, the eating habits of Taiwan in the early days were similar to those of Fujian. Most of them were Quanzhou cuisine, Zhangzhou cuisine, Fuzhou cuisine, Tingzhou ( Hakka cuisine in Changting, Fujian today); Later, residents of Huizhou and Chaoshan areas in Guangdong came to Taiwan one after another, and brought local food with them.

Oyster omelette is popular among citizens and tourists in Shaxian County, Fujian Province.

Oyster omelette is a special snack in coastal cities of Fujian, Taiwan and Chaoshan, and is very popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Photo by Zhang Bin

　　During the Japanese occupation period, the most representative restaurants in Taiwan that operated high-end Chinese banquets, "Jiangshanlou", "Donghuifang", "Chunfenglou" and "Penglaige", were also known as the four major restaurants, and they were also known as "Jiangdong Chunpeng".

Among them, Penglai Pavilion, in order to stand out from the fierce competition and attract more diners, recruited Mr. Sun Yat-sen’s chef Du Zizhao from the Grand Marshal’s Mansion in Guangzhou, and led a group of chefs from Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan to Taiwan, enriching the "Taiwanese cuisine" Content.

　　In 1949, many mainlanders came to Taiwan, and many of them were from the catering industry of various provinces, bringing the authentic taste of their hometowns.

Before that, the dishes of Taiwanese restaurants could be said to be "mixed provincial dishes" that mixed the styles of various provinces.

After the authentic cuisine arrived in Taiwan, the "mixed provincial cuisine" was not very popular, and the store turned to the establishment of the so-called "New Taiwanese Cuisine" restaurant such as porridge and side dishes, which has been developing all the way to this day.

There are also some well-known restaurants, which actually developed from "mixed provincial cuisine", so many guests from mainland China will also taste familiar tastes from "Taiwanese cuisine".

China News Agency reporter: There are eight major cuisines in Chinese cuisine: Lu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Anhui. Which cuisines are popular in Taiwan?

Zhu Zhenfan:

Due to the small size of Taiwan and the high mobility of chefs and restaurant operators, Chinese restaurants seldom stick to a single cuisine from beginning to end. They are usually inclusive and all-inclusive.

Various cuisines and flavors are exchanged and blended in Taiwan, some of which are inherited and integrated, and the imprint of the changes of the times can be found everywhere.

　　From another point of view, Taiwanese cuisine since 1949 can be divided into three categories: "official cuisine", "military cuisine" and "commercial cuisine".

The so-called "official cuisine" refers to the cuisine of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Because Chiang Kai-shek and his son were from Ningbo, Ningbo cuisine first became popular in Taiwan; later, because there were many Jiangsu and Zhejiang party and government officials among the party and government officials at that time, restaurants specializing in Suzhou cuisine, Hangzhou cuisine, and Shanghai cuisine opened one after another. For a time, it was called "official dish" in the market.

In the Kuomintang army at that time, most of them were from Hunan and Sichuan. Therefore, Sichuan and Hunan cuisine with strong spicy characteristics were preferred by military personnel and were called "military cuisine".

The famous Grand Hotel in Taipei, which specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisines.

Photo courtesy of Visual China

　　As for "commercial vegetables", it was in the early 1990s when Taiwan's economy took off and reached its peak. Due to the sharp rise in the stock market, many people became rich and their economic strength improved. There was also a high demand for food and beverages.

Therefore, a large number of Hong Kong-style restaurants operating high-end and expensive "Sam Wing and Abalone" dishes have sprung up.

Because merchants often choose this kind of food for banquets, Hong Kong-style seafood is also called "business dishes".

With the prosperity of Taiwan's economy, seafood from all over the world is flocking to Taiwan. Hong Kong-style seafood is widely loved by gourmets, and "official dishes" and "military dishes" have also become popular.

　　In addition to "official cuisine", "military cuisine" and "commercial cuisine", the home-cooked dishes that people eat in their daily meals are mostly composed of Hunan cuisine and Sichuan cuisine, plus northern stir-fried dishes, and also combine some elements of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong.

There are many fast-fried restaurants on the streets of Taiwan, most of which have this kind of flavor. It can be said that they have everything you need. Many restaurants are named after "North and South", and their dishes include southern and northern flavors.

Reporter from China News Agency: This summer, mainland netizens saw Shanxi Daosha noodle restaurants on the streets of Taipei on the map, and they felt very cordial.

What do you think of this phenomenon?

Zhu Zhenfan:

Indeed, many snacks in Taiwan are inextricably linked with the provinces in the mainland. On the streets of Taiwan, you can see snack bars named after many provinces in the mainland. There are not only sliced ​​noodles, but also Sichuan Dandan noodles and Yibin burning noodles. , Shandong pancakes, Shanghai buns, etc.

Shanxi Knife Sliced ​​Noodles was originally a snack bar opened by retired Shanxi veterans or military dependents in their villages, and later spread to other places.

　　At first, the shopkeepers of these stores were people from the corresponding provinces, bringing the taste of their hometown to Taiwan.

Later, Taiwan set up a vocational training center. In order to help people learn a skill and increase employment during the economic depression, the cooking training courses included making various dishes and snacks. After the people learned the skills, they opened restaurants or snack bars. The dishes are becoming more and more diverse.

In Fuqing, Fujian Province, I learned how to make pineapple cakes in the Taiwanese family of Rongtai.

Food has become an important part of the cultural connection between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Photo by Zhang Bin

　　With the changes of the times, Taiwanese snacks have developed local innovations on the basis of the original.

For example, the popular "big sausage wrapped with small sausage" in night markets in Taiwan is made of glutinous rice sausage from Chaoshan, cut and wrapped with sausage, which is similar to American hot dogs; the famous Taiwanese special gift "pineapple "Crispy" also comes from the traditional Chaozhou dim sum. In Taiwan, the cube-shaped dim sum is baked into a golden yellow color, like a gold brick. Filling has nothing to do with taste.

So in the beginning, the filling of pineapple cakes was not pineapple (that is, pineapple), but winter melon paste. Only in recent years have manufacturers used pineapple as fillings, making pineapple cakes "true to the name".

　　The prototype of Taiwan's "fool noodles" is Fuzhou dry noodles.

Because the production process is very simple, the store often asks customers to add soy sauce, sesame oil, and red oil according to the ingredient list posted in the store after the noodles are cooked.

This kind of simple, semi-self-serve noodles has gradually become known as "fool noodles".

Such noodle shops also sell other Fuzhou-style snacks, such as egg pot soup and Fuzhou fish balls.

The noodle noodles from Fuzhou have also been carried forward by Taiwanese snack bars, adding local ingredients oysters (that is, small oysters) to make oyster rice noodles that can be seen everywhere.

Taiwan's special snacks are small intestines wrapped in large intestines.

Photo courtesy of Visual China

　　The most famous snack should be regarded as Xiaolongbao, which has flourished in Taiwan.

In 1948, Shanxi native Yang Bingyi came to Taiwan alone, empty-handed, and made a living by delivering oil for others. He founded the "Din Tai Fung" oil company, which also made xiao long bao for business expansion, and finally became an internationally renowned restaurant. The best spokesperson for the bag.

"Din Tai Fung" Taiwanese specialty steamed buns are also popular among diners in mainland China.

Photo by Jiang Zhenxiong

Reporter from China News Agency: What influences have Japanese and Western cuisines had on Taiwan's restaurants?

Zhu Zhenfan:

Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan for 50 years has also had a great influence on Taiwan's food.

But in my opinion, many of these things did not originate in Japan.

For example, the indispensable "miso" in Japanese cuisine was introduced to Japan from Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang during the Southern and Northern Dynasties; while sushi originated from a method of pickling fish in Yunnan, which was passed to Japan through Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. There is also the way of eating sashimi that has been passed down.

The records of eating sashimi in China can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. In Zhou Tianzi’s recipe, freshwater fish was eaten, while in Japan, sea fish was used as raw material for sashimi according to local conditions.

Before the Japanese occupation era, eating freshwater fish sashimi was already popular in Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas of Taiwan. Later, under the influence of Japan, they gradually changed to eating sea fish.

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Respondent profile:

　　Zhu Zhenfan, born in Taiwan in 1957, his ancestral home is Jingjiang, Jiangsu. He graduated from the Law Department of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. He has published more than 50 books on food, such as "Incessant Gluttony", "Taste from the North and the South" and "Prosperity of Six Livestock". Chen Xiaoqing, chief director of China, called it a "true gourmet".