What does it mean for a food to be described as “Q” and what is the derivation? A decade or so ago, the restaurant reviews by local writers in the Taiwan newspaper where I was features editor often dwelt at great length on the chewy nature of certain dishes. To vary the wording, the reviewers…
Odd, unusual, or just different, the country’s cuisine is perfectly capable of delighting and surprising in equal measure. Photos courtesy of Chopstick Travel Visitors to Taiwan may well have experienced locals gleefully offering them unaccustomed foods, in order to impress and perhaps enjoy a good-natured joke at the guests’ expense. For example, stinky tofu is…
The Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative offers the opportunity to dramatically improve the nation’s medical landscape and advance the lucrative biomedical sector with an ambitious DNA mapping project. “The best doctor cures the illness that is still obscure, the good doctor cures the illness that is about to break out, and the ordinary doctor treats the…
Taiwan and other regional players are finding it difficult to compete on the same scale as China when it comes to hosting clinical trials. Over the years, Taiwan has developed a strong reputation in the field of healthcare. It is now looking to leverage its advantages to position itself as a regional biomedical hub and…
Given the right government policy and smart marketing by local manufacturers, Taiwan’s love affair with scooters could help the environment. It’s a daily commute for tens of thousands of people, but it has also become an annual pilgrimage for electric motorcycle owners. In what is known as the “motorcycle waterfall,” scooters jostle for position like…
What used to be known as the “Petrochemical Kingdom” is now leading the fight against the production and use of plastics, or coming up with clever alternatives There was a time not so long ago when simply having a shower would typically release hundreds of thousands of plastic microbeads down the drain. Eventually they would…
Increases to the minimum wage, lower birth rates, and an aging population are leading to higher costs and labor shortages for retailers. Will automation save the day? There’s a rather whimsical image of Taiwan floating around online. Entitled “Actual View of an Average Taiwanese Street,” it shows a few cartoon figures walking around a landscape…
As retail sales spike upward, new-style outlets and malls cater to millennial shoppers who want entertainment and Instagram-friendly backdrops more than bargain-basement prices. It’s a golden age for outlets and malls in Taiwan, with a number of brassy mega projects completed and more developments on the horizon. Despite the rapid growth of online retailing, people…
The island is a cornucopia of delights for cyclists keen for the call of the open road, mountain adventures, Pacific Ocean vistas, and myriad cultural highlights. Every Sunday Lin Kun-you gets up before dawn and puts on his spandex uniform of fitted and padded cycling shorts, short-fingered gloves, and an aerodynamic road cycling helmet. His…
Taiwan offers a wealth of options for helping to improve wellness and mindfulness. In many countries, religious and spiritual retreats have become a counterweight to the relentless march of progress and materialism. The trend is especially evident in Taiwan, which is known for being a beacon of religious freedom and one of the world’s centers…
