Eateries Serving Rice-Based Food
Once I was fool enough to tell my Taiwanese mother-in-law that I was cutting out carbs and would therefore not be eating any rice with our evening meal. She stared at me as if I had lost my mind, before exclaiming, “But if you haven’t eaten rice, you haven’t eaten!” I assumed her to be speaking metaphorically; however, on further thought, I realized there is literal truth in that statement. Rice, in various forms, permeates Taiwanese cuisine like no other ingredient. It forms the basis of several breakfast dishes (congee, rice balls), the worker’s lunchtime biandang (a lunchbox usually filled with rice, vegetables, and meat), and popular desserts such as mochi(a chewy confection made from pounded sticky rice), not to mention any number of festival dishes. Indeed, it should come as no surprise that one is often greeted in Taiwan with the phrase “Chi fan le mei” – literally, “Have you eaten rice yet?”
Jodo Rice Ball and Coffee
Starting our day’s rice odyssey with the morning meal, we begin by searching out a mainstay of the Taiwanese breakfast – a fantuan, or rice ball. In Taiwan, these are normally long oblongs of glutinous rice packed with any number of fillings, from the traditional pickled greens, radish, and pork floss to more recent, Western additions, such as cheese and bacon. These clingfilm-wrapped cudgels of hearty carbs can be picked up at stalls and small shops all over the country, and make for a truly substantial breakfast or, at the weekend, a handy snack to take on a hike. They do, however, tend to be a little heavy on the stomach. A much lighter version is the Japanese-style fantuan that can be found on the refrigerated shelves of the island’s convenience stores. Pop into a 7-Eleven or FamilyMart and you’ll see rows of triangular rice balls, wrapped tightly in seaweed, with nuggets of pork floss, tuna, grilled chicken, crab paste – the list goes on – nestled tastily within.
It is this type of Japanese fantuan, rather than the Taiwanese style, that is served up at Jodo Rice Ball and Coffee. Located in the student district of Gongguan close to National Taiwan University, Jodo offers light meals consisting of Japanese-style fantuan, veggies, and a meat or fish skewer, along with the option to order rice ballsà la carte. The fantuan themselves do not come with a filling as they do in convenience stores; rather, the rice itself is subtly flavored so that with each bite one can fully appreciate the texture and flavor of the rice uninhibited. Jodo uses a mixture of two types of rice, daoya youji mi (mi is the transliteration of “rice”) from Yilan County – an organic rice grown with the help of ducks that keep the paddies pest-free – and yuxiang mi from Hualien County, which has a subtle flavor of taro.
These varieties were chosen, according to the shop’s spokesperson, because of their distinctive “Q” texture. “Q” is a somewhat untranslatable Taiwanese concept that means something akin to “bouncy,” “springy,” or “chewy,” and describes the texture of good pudding, thick noodles, or even someone’s perm. Jodo’s fantuan are very Q. Read More…
