Cuisines of military villages | 外省人村の料理(眷村菜)

Cuisines of military villages: 眷村菜

Did you know that the very famous beef noodle and varies kind of dumplings in Taiwan actually only appear since after WWII?

Taiwan was a place with the culture of rice since long long time ago, and hardly grew wheat with the tropical hot climate. The eating habit of wheat was brought by the military troops from China after the Chinese civil war (1927-1950), the families of the troops were settled in the communities built by the government, and has established a very unique cuisine style based on the cuisines of their hometown in mainland China, but also merged local ingredients of the island of Taiwan.

Beef noodle, is the best example as a new dish with a little concept and elements of Sichuan, but born in Taiwan. These dishes are not the real Chinese food, but the Chinese immigrant food, which holds a lot of stories and gives a nostalgic feeling of missing the hometowns in the far far land.

眷村とは、国共内戦の後に台湾に撤退した軍人とそれらの家族が住む寮のことを示し、眷村菜とは、寮の中で食べる料理のことです。中国各地から軍人が台湾に来て、中国各省それぞれの食文化や習慣を持って来て、さらに台湾現地の食材や風土に合わせた料理が生まれました。そんな台湾風中国料理を眷村菜と呼んでいます。一番有名なのは牛肉麺で、四川の懐かしい味でアレンジされたそうです。他にも沢山の思い出を込めて新しく生まれてきた料理が数多くあって、滷味(ルーウェイ)、水餃子なども眷村から広まりました。これらの料理を食べると、なんらかの郷愁の匂いも漂っているような感じ。

#taiwan #history #dumplings #beefnoodle #luwei #Taiwanfood #nostalgic #WWII