I think I got him…

I’m back in Taipei and as usual feeling deprived of sleep. Partly jet-lag, partly life-style. Quite often my colleagues can be seen catching a bit of shuteye at their desks. I can’t quite bring myself to do it myself though.

This is the last food-related post from Taiwan for a while. I don’t want you to think I am obsessed with food.

I say I really will eat anything – the best frogs legs I’ve ever had were in Taipei, as was the best pork intestines and barbecued meat dipped in raw egg, but I have to be pretty drunk in the UK to eat a kebab from a van. This time I was sober and I made the same judgment.

Now I must admit to having a bit of a sweet-tooth, but no sugary confections for me. Give me bitter dark chocolate or rhubarb crumble and custard and I’m happy. I was offered a sweet snack made with rice balls, red berries, a warm brown liquid and ice cubes by a friend of mine and I can honestly say that if she told me it was a savoury snack I would have believed her. On our travels to Lugang, the safest bet for food was at a bakery food stall. I picked out what looked like a sesame-seed covered doughnut and was relieved to find that it contained a ginger-based mixture in the middle. Once again, I couldn’t tell if it was sweet or savoury, but suspect that to the Taiwanese palate it would have been considered a sweet.

Perhaps that’s why you see no obese people in Taiwan.