The Taipei City Government yesterday prepared and dished out more than 1,000 bowls of braised pork on rice free of charge in an attempt to set the record straight about the Taiwanese delicacy after the dish’s origins were mistakenly attributed to China in Michelin’s Green Guide Taiwan.
Known as luroufan, the Michelin guide labeled the dish as an “elemental staple of Shandong [Province] cuisine.”
“Today we’re here to let everyone know that luroufan is genuine Taiwanese cuisine, a national delicacy, not a ‘Shandong-style’ dish,” Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said during a press conference to defend the honor of the dish.
Photo: CNA
After finding out Michelin listed the dish as originating from Shandong Province in China, Hau wrote to the group’s editorial manager Jonathan Gilbert and requested a revision.
Hau wants to have the original text replaced with: “Braised Pork Rice, a true classic Taiwanese street delicacy.”
“This satisfying, yet inexpensive Taiwanese traditional savory dish is a meal in itself,” Hau wrote in an e-mail dated July 6, along with a short introduction to the Taiwanese dish.
Florent Bonnefoy, Michelin travel guides manager, answered in an e-mail that the group conducts regular updates and revisions to provide accurate information.
“As we hope to have reprints and further editions of our Taiwan Green Guide, we will naturally input the necessary changes and updates,” Bonnefoy said in response.
He did not say whether Michelin would change the description.
Liang Yu-hsiang (梁幼祥), a gourmet reviewer in Taiwan, also presented written proof from the Beijing-based Chinese Food Culture Research Association at the press conference, which said “there is no such food item in Shandong.”
“It is definitely a local delicacy,” Liang said. “Maybe there are nuances [in names] between northern and southern Taiwan, but it has nothing to do with Shandong.”
The Taiwanese public also found it hard to accept that China was given credit for a Taiwanese dish.
“I have been enjoying this traditional snack food all my life, and it’s very Taiwanese to me,” a woman standing in line for the free luroufan said.
The city blamed the mix-up on the first character in the Chinese name of the dish, lu (魯), which is also an alternate name for Shandong Province, where the State of Lu reigned about 2,200 years ago. The city is now urging the public to start using a homonym which means braising (滷), to avoid confusion.
The organizers added that several restaurants and vendors are scheduled to host daylong promotional campaigns.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS