Six East Asian Crazes That Are Headed This Way!

As some of you may be aware, I am no longer in Taiwan (alas! For gainful employment was not found in time to save me from having to return to dear old Blighty) so this is likely to be my last Taiwangle post for a while and I thought this might be an apt topic to exit on.  

During my stay in Taiwan I sampled/noticed a few things that are simply HUGE there - and, as far as I can tell, the whole of East Asia  - so popular that they are a 'given'; simply part of the fabric of contemporary life. Some of these things seem very weird seen through non-East Asian eyes, and have been commented on by Western observers/visitors all over the internet, many times before, in a 'Oooh, Asia is so craaazyyy?!' way. But I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that actually it won't be long before they have permeated our very own existences here in the U.K.  That's right! Mark my words! I predict that in 3-10 years' time (vague = I have more chance of being correct) you will have accepted, or possibly embraced, the following:

1. The Wearing of Surgical Face Masks as You Go About Your Business

Typical face-mask wearing scene on the Taipei Subway

You're sure to have seen one of the many pictures of Asian commuters wearing surgical face masks floating around in the last few years, usually attached to articles about the air pollution in Beijing or Shanghai, and they really are a ubiquitous item in the daily wardrobe of many a Taiwanese/Chinese.  In fact, they are not just worn to cope with the bad air quality, as I had initially thought, or even to protect the wearer against airborne viruses, but rather to keep the germs in! This seems kind of disgusting to me, surely the last thing you want when you have a cold is to trap all the grossness inside a mask?! But I guess it is very considerate of your fellow man (assuming it is indeed effective). There are even polite little public notices in Taiwan instructing everyone to wear the masks when they are sick, in the manner of the 'give up your seat to the elderly' signs you find on public transport.  And this, my friends, is the key to this particular trend.  The implication being that if you have a cold and you AREN'T wearing a surgical mask, you are a nasty, gross, selfish fucker, spreading your germs around without a thought for others. Shame on you!!

As I've mentioned before, Taiwan is a very polite place and it is also a Confucius-influenced country, meaning that it is community-minded above all else (except perhaps consumerist). Therefore if you have a cold, YOU WEAR A MASK.  It didn't take me long to get used to the sight of the unfortunate virus-inflicted marking themselves with this sign of the plague so that everyone would know to keep away. Being an equally polite, although not particularly community-minded, Brit, this was eventually followed by my also taking on the attitude that wearing a surgical mask is a perfectly correct way to behave in such a situation.  I was lucky enough not to have a cold while I was away, but I did find myself eyeing up a packet of surgical face-masks in the supermarket, for purchase just in case.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to you too! I'm waiting to see the familiar subway scene pictured above here in London... maybe I should kick it off myself.  With one of these beauties:

Photo: SCMP/Simon Song

2. 'Kawaii'* or The Unbearable Cuteness of Being

Photo: Sparklesugar

Again, this is hardly news.  East Asians like stuff cute! They have done for like, forever, bla bla bla.  BUT, dear British person, do you?  You might think not, but haven't you noticed the imperceptible creeping of cuteness into your possessions/those of people around you over the last few years?  Animal onesies anyone? Phone cases, or hats, with little ears on? Shoes with cat/frog/monkey/puppy faces on the toes? Little frills around the top of your socks? Bows on... well, everything? HELLO KITTY ITEMS FOR ADULTS? Trust me, it's started already. Non-child-related cuteness is already becoming socially acceptable over here. It's only a matter of time before you, a grown woman (or even man), look around and realise that you too are of the opinion that if it's not cute, it's ugly.

In Japan, Kawaii culture has quite frankly reached heights of insanity that no other country could ever hope to master.  Cuteness fetishised to the point of creepy, slightly sexual, surrealism.  I mean, check this out:



I'm not saying that the cuteness obssession will reach this level in the U.K. necessarily, but it could.  It could.  Avril Lavigne is certainly trying to bring it, in some kind of way (who knows exactly what she is trying to achieve with this):


Also, I just googled 'kawaii' and this came up:


kawaii pictures

KAWAII OBAMA.

I REST MY CASE.

* literally this Japanese word just translates as 'cute', but the reality is so much more... intense...

3. Collagen Jelly Beauty Drinks

This may be more of a passing phase, but while I was in Taiwan I very much enjoyed drinking these and pretending they would actually make my skin good - 'Beauty' jelly drinks containing collagen that you suck out through the nozzle and kind of...chew on.  Also in the range were 'mineral' and 'vitamin' versions in different flavours.  Low calorie, fun to drink (eat?) and 'healthy' - what more can you want?

(Okay, perhaps I just HOPE these are heading this way, 'cause I would quite like to be able to pick one up in Boots every now and again).

Leading me seamlessly on to

4. QQ texture

As mentioned in my food post, the 'QQ', aka chewy-gummy, texture thing has it going on in East Asia. Primarily noticeable in the massively popular bubble tea sold everywhere (but originating in Taiwan I must add)

but also present in mochi (which I believe are a Japanese export)

Photo: Simplymochi.com

and pretty much everything you could possibly make chewy or add chewy bits to.  Drinks, ices, desserts, you name it.

The thing is, it is totally addictive so I completely understand.  Yes, the first time I had bubble tea in China I almost snorted it out of my nose in surprise after sucking a 'bubble' (ball of tapioca) up through the oversized straw, but I persevered and was rewarded with a beautiful, blossoming love of QQ-ness.  The only reason I don't indulge constantly being that I'm worried about the teeth rotting right out of my head.

In the last couple of years, then, I have several times searched for UK sources of bubble tea on the internet and each time Google (other search engines are available) has come up with more and more outlets, prompting me to surmise that this is gonna get big over here too.  Mochi I have only seen in Asian supermarkets, but I bought some Activia Pineapple and Coconut yoghurts recently that had CHEWY-JELLY-GUMMY coconut pieces in and my teeth recognised the texture of old. They would totally be called QQ in China/Taiwan.  Ohhhh yes, it's a-comin'.

5. Bilingual Signs / Advertising

I'm not sure about Japan, S. Korea etc. but in both China and Taiwan, you see English on signage/packaging everywhere.  It's incredibly handy if you're not fluent in character-reading as otherwise you have no hope of any kind of navigating/purchasing/surviving.



Yes, the English translations aren't always particularly accurate and have occasionally clearly been obtained from Google Translate (other online translation tools are available!) but it's pretty obvious what they mean and I, for one, am incredibly grateful that such efforts have been gone to.  In Taiwan it is has to be said that the use of English is much more accurate and widespread - I would say maybe 70% of shop signs use English in some way? - perhaps due to the American military presence in Taiwan in the recent past.

I guess the original reason for such bilinguality was to encourage, help and welcome overseas visitors and also to cash-in on the vague cosmopolitan air that Roman script carries. But I think these days it has just become accepted, not even thought about in terms of being useful to foreigners, and if you don't have some English words lying around somewhere it probably indicates that your business isn't catering to the young / middle-class particularly, or is maybe just resistant to the current fashion.

Whatever the reason, token bilingualism is certainly extremely common in China/Taiwan and makes me wonder about our own tediously monolingual advertising campaigns in the UK/the English-speaking West.  Are their days numbered? I mean, we love Chinese characters don't we? Just look at the amount of people walking around with things like 'watery substance' tattooed on their ass.  It's not much of a leap to imagine international businesses starting to increase their appeal to the huge, globally-spread Chinese market with a few characters scattered around here and there.  And we really do have a LOT of Chinese students/visitors in the UK... way more than English-speaking students/visitors in China or Taiwan I'd wager.  So why not? Come on, give me some reading practice advertisers!

6. The Carrying of Parasols

(Just kidding.  I know this will never take off in the UK, mainly because the sun only comes out once a year so we have no need for such frivolity).

Photo: Theheartthrills

East Asian ladies all seem to share one deepest fear.  It's not the fear of being left on the shelf at 30 as you may have been led to believe by the media, oh no, it's the fear that one day, a ray of SUN will touch their FACE. Noooooooooo!!!!!! It's totally understandable in a culture that values paleness, as a sign of wealth, sophistication and beauty (just as our own did until the super-rich began to show off their tans as a sign of being so incredibly loaded they didn't have to work and could just lie around all day sunbathing in... the South of France? Wherever they went in those days), but still kind of hilarious to see as a citizen of the fake-tan-addicted U.K.

While I was in Taipei, it was very noticeable that the Taiwanese response to literally any kind of weather was to put a brolly up.  Seriously, monsoon rains? Umbrellas.  Burning, merciless sunshine? Umbrellas all over the place.  Just a kind of middling, cloudy, grey day? Umbrellas up, just in case.  You never know what might happen.  Just the default response to walking outside: umbrellas.

Yes, I'm only joking about this trend heading over here, but I have to admit I did put my umbrella up in the sun a couple of times cause, well, oh my god 36 degree heat = desperate for any kind of shade! I felt like a bit of a twat though.

On on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next I reach the rocky shores of that plucky little island off the coast of China known as Taiwan.

Zai Jian!

Nom Nom Nom

Taiwan is reknowned for its food, especially its street food (check out this recent article in the Guardian), which is found in copious amounts at the popular night markets across the country. Night markets might sound kinda dodgy, but in super-safe Taiwan, where the majority of the population work long hours and then swing by the night market on their way home for scoffing, shopping and socialising, the atmosphere is more like a fair - festive and lively. They're pretty cool, and the street food is also mostly much safer in terms of hygiene than in other Asian countries, so you can trough away without too much concern about repercussions!

Among the most famous Taiwanese specialities are stinky tofu, pig's blood cake and beef noodle soup, however I avoided all three of these (sorry, I know they sound interesting). The reasons being that I'm pretty sure pig's blood cake is just black pudding, which I find vomitous, and while I tried to persuade myself on the stinky tofu on various occasions I just couldn't do it. I know it's lame, but that shit really does STINK! And the soup? Well, I just don't like noodles. That's right. I'm also not a huge fan of rice. No, I have no idea why I keep going to Asia either.

Instead of these three culinary celebrities, then, I bring you my own more personal and rather random Taiwanese food odyssey:

First up, my best friend the iced mango smoothie. Yeah it might not look so exciting, but trust me when it's 34°C EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN DAY this is heaven right here:

Giant versions found all over the place for just 80p! 

Odd sugary baked goods from the 7-11 also featured prominently during my trip:

Basically two scotch pancakes stuck together with red bean paste. Not something I would ever have thought to do, but workable.

Red bean and milk ice lolly. Disliked at first. Grew on me. Ended in addiction!

Mmmm, I got really into red bean everything!

During my housesit I had easy access to a Wellcome supermarket where they sold these:

You see the letter 'Q' a lot on Chinese sweet stuff, it basically means chewy or gummy. I like mochi (chewy gummy sweet things usually filled with paste) anway, but combined with chocolate cake? OMG.

These babies are just amazing. I need to find a supplier in the UK!

Here we have 'little sausage wrapped in big sausage' (it's catchier in Chinese). Taiwanese sausage is possibly my favourite food discovery of the trip, it's like a cross between British sausage and Spanish sausage, but more sweet than spicy. The big sausage is composed of glutinous rice and is nicer than it sounds! I got so good at ordering these the sellers would think I could actually speak Chinese properly and start chatting away, whereupon I would have to mumble 'sorry, no understand' and edge away with embarrassment...

Looks a bit rude this close up!

And,  last but not least, dumplings!!! Almost my entire reason for returning to the Chinese cultural zone was a deep, unshakeable need to have jiaozi back in my life. But alas, I was a little disappointed by the specimens I found in Taiwan. I'm not sure if I had been remembering them with rose-coloured nostalgia, or if they just weren't as good, but....

Called shui jiao (water dumplings) in Taiwan to differentiate them from the other type below

 ... it was all okay because in Taiwan they have potstickers!! So-called because after steaming, they are 'stuck to the pot' making them crispy on one side. No, I was wrong, THESE were my favourite food discovery of the trip!

'Guo tie' in chinese. This selection included spicy Korean and curry flavour. SO GOOD.

Not pictured, because I was too busy stuffing them in my gob to take photos, but also deserving of an honourable mention are: deep fried crispy salt and pepper squid, Taiwanese pineapple cakes (everybody's favourite souvenir) and baked sweet potatoes. Baked sweet potatoes are not exactly hard to find or indeed do at home, but for some reason they make great street food, just served plain in a paper bag. They seem to have little stalls selling them everywhere. In fact, I have no idea why we dont have such things in the UK, especially with the cold... gap in the market? 

Oh wait, we have baked NORMAL potato street stalls everywhere in the UK. Darn.

To be totally honest, despite all the deliciousness above, I preferred the food in Kunming for flavour and just sheer yum factor (Kunming food was so tasty I regularly ate it even though I knew it was 80% likely to make me ill! I mean, also I had no choice, but I probably would have anyway), but Taiwan wins for variety for sure. In Taiwan, when I got sick of Chinese food, it was just as easy and almost as cheap to go for something more like this:

Japanese chain Tonkatsu. Unbelievably good edamame beans and miso, way better than Wagamamas and a 5th of the price!

 This:

Or this:

If you know me, you know that they way to my heart is salad. SALAD. That's right, you heard me! SAAAALAAAAD!

Before I go, I would just like to leave you with this image:

Apart from just being a nice night market photo, I took this for the dish third from the left, top row... if you can't quite make it out it says 'chicken butts'... hehe he hurr.... chicken butts. Chicken butts! On a stick! Haha!

Okay, I'm done now.