TAIWAN EXPORTS

Come to think of it Taiwan's food culture already has a strong impact on ours. The photo shows yet another addition to the intensely competitive special drinks market, with a catchy but funny name, 'Come Buy'. Some years ago the 'Pearl Milk Tea', a unique Taiwanese creation has built a following in Hong Kong. Whoever thought of adding large sago 'pearls' to give a chewy texture to regular English breakfast tea, with milk, and served with crushed ice, should be given a culinary medal. What follows are copy cats, ad nauseum, the ultimate form of flattery. Go to Mongkok and count how many such outlets there are on on each block. In a recent news documentary it was reported a 400 sq ft retail outlet, standing room only, in prime Mongkok commands HK$100,000 per month these days. A young entrepreneur was interviewed and I quote ' ... we have to sell 6000+ per month just to pay rent ....' and he was talking about one shop, his own! These are staggering consumption statistics if we total sales from all such outlets around town. If this is not making an impact on our food (or at least drinks) culture, what is? BTW if you insist on proof at the food front, how about Din Tai Fung Dumplings, which is a global brand now. I took my LCB classmates for dinner in their Sydney branch and I was very impressed by their standards and quality service which would make their 'lao dian' in Taipei extremely proud. If you are still not convinced what about the many flavored Taiwanese style sausages, served as appetizers and in sandwiches?

3 cheers for Taiwanese food culture which I, for one, crave!