Super mango shaved ice (a mountain of shaved ice topped with fresh mangoes, sweet condensed milk, and topped off with a scoop of mango ice cream) at Ice Monster on the culinary experience that is Yongkan Jie. Mmmm...doesn't it just make your mouth water?
Celebrating Dwan Wu Jie (Dragon Boat Festival) with rice tamales "zhong zi" (glutonous rice, shittake mushrooms, nuts and spices wrapped up in a bamboo leaf, tied with twine; non-veggie version has meat things). Tamales is actually a pretty good translation - like tamales, they are steamed and then served with the leaf intact. There are sweet ones as well, but I don't like them as much. Legend has it, during the period of the warring states before China was united by the first Qin emperor, a great patriot of another state drowned himself in a river rather than submit to living under Qin rule. His countrymen stuffed bamboo leaves with rice and tossed them into the river in hopes that the fish would not devour the dead patriot's remains. Today, the tradition continues with eating rice tamales and racing dragon boats to commemorate the day he died.
A "Healthy Sandwich" as it was advertised (no joke): deep fried baguette stuffed with cucumber slices, a GENEROUS spooning of mayonnaise, two slices of black "1000 year old egg," a slice or two of tomatoes, and a few other veggies. This can only be found at the famous Keelung Night Market, about an hour's train ride northeast of Taipei, look for the "Healthy Sandwich" sign! A friend told me that Keelung is a harbor city that has long been exposed to foreigners (hence the baguette and concept of stuffing things into it to make a sandwich), and locals have been eating this sandwich for about a century. Back in the day, when diets were quite poor, this was considered a healthy meal! It truly was a tasty treat, but like a donut or deep fried twinkie, moderation is key. If you ate this everyday, all that health will probably kill you.
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