Complete and Creative

Taiwanese Food Made Me Fat (1/2)

At first, I was planning to title this article “Taiwanese Food Makes You Fat,” but then I realized that wouldn’t be quite fair. After all, I have lots of Taiwanese friends who are slim (Arm and Rem and Bonnie, I’m not talking about the three of you).

Taiwan’s famous BBQ corn-on-the-cob. I don’t particularly like it, but many of my friends love it.

Taiwanese food, however, is, I believe, predisposed to increase your chances of being overweight. I suppose if you’re used to it and had it all the time while growing up, it’s not such a big deal, hence my many Taiwanese friends who are thin, but if you grew up on a Cantonese diet like mine, which is famous for its delicate flavors and poor customer service, Taiwanese food can do some major damage to your waistline.

Here’s some personal background info to prove my point: I went to Taiwan in December 2006. Naturally, because it was winter, everyone’s metabolism slowed down. But by that time, I had already gone to about 20 other countries, having studied in three and volunteered in one. Every time, I had come back a few (or more than a few) pounds lighter. Maybe it was the stress of studying or my body adapting to a new environment or something. Whatever the case was, every time I went abroad for a trip of any duration, I would come back to the US weighing less on the scale.

Taiwan was the first and, thus far, only exception.

I gained 11 pounds after two weeks in Taiwan. Of course, that wasn’t enough to make me “fat” (I just thought having the word in the title would be catchy). Nonetheless, looking back at pictures and seeing how I appear in the mirror now and before the Taiwan trip, I could see a difference in my appearance. I wasn’t huge by any means after Taiwan, but my face and body were definitely meatier.

So how does Taiwanese food make you…um…possibly not as light as you used to be? Simple. Most of it is heavily salted, generously sugared, and indulgently spiced. Want something sweet? You got it. Want something with flavors so strong it could induce orgasms in your mouth? The night markets in Taiwan have got that covered. (I just realized I used the word “orgasms” in an article about food. Oh well.)

One Taiwanese friend once affectionately called Taiwanese night market food “that deep-fried shit from Taiwan.” Wonderful.

Japanese food imports are never sold in the Taiwanese market until they are…modified. What does that tell you?

Anyway, that’s more than enough about me. In the next post are some juicy pics of Taiwanese night market food I took during my trip.

Oh, many thanks to Bonnie, Rem, Hellen, and Ted for taking care of me while I was in Taiwan. Hey, I know it’s about a year and a half late, but I’m sure I expressed my gratitude then too. Uh…I did, right?

to be continued…