Today’s culture video is from Peggy Teaches Chinese. This post is part of Wanderlust and Lipstick’s Wanderfood Wednesday meme.
YouTube sensation (and my good friend) Peggy Lee takes time out of her busy college life to introduce us to one of Taiwan’s most popular dishes, Taiwanese Beef Noodles.
Tender chucks of beef are stewed in a hot and spicy beef broth that is simply bursting with flavor. In Taiwan, versions of beef noodle soup can include everything from stewed beef, beef broth, pickled vegetables, green onion and noodles to the plain beef soup noodles which includes noodles and broth, but no meat. When soy sauce is added to the dish, it is known as braised beef noodles.
Beef noodles are often served as fast food in China and Taiwan. The dish is considered to be a main meal and it is often served on its own. Occasionally, it will be served with cold side dishes that include braised dried tofu, pork intestine or seaweed.
In Taiwan, the flavorful dish has become a symbol of Taiwanese food culture. At less than $2 USD, this cheap and nourishing meal is often served in open air street stalls and small ‘Mom and Pop’ restaurants rather than in fine dining establishments. The dish is so popular that the city of Taipei holds a Beef Noodle Festival every year in which various chefs and restaurants compete to see who has the best beef noodle recipe. This simple, but widely loved Taiwanese dish is something that every traveler should try before leaving Taiwan.
Canadian expat Carrie Kellenberger has kept a home base with her husband in Asia since 2003. A prolific traveler, Carrie has funded her travels primarily as a writer, editor, travel blogger and photographer, but she has also worked as an educator, voice over artist, model and nightclub singer. She draws upon her 15+ years of travel experience to write about travel-related issues and the countries she has visited on her award-winning web site, My Several Worlds.
Her photography and travel articles have appeared in both print and online publications around the world, including Travel and Leisure Asia, Unearthing Asia and Hip Compass Escapes.
