food food food

Yes, it's come to that. A little about the food here. Come on, we've all had Chinese food before. If you wanted to eat nothing but Chinese food like you get in any city in the U.S. you would have no problem here. There are healthier alternatives, however. Obviously, rice is big here. Sadly, not brown rice. It's not even easy to find in stores. People here have told me that brown rice is not used in Taiwanese dishes because it isn't sticky enough, like white rice. Yes, but it's way healthier! Doesn't matter.

Anyway, a person can walk into most any roadside restaurant and, by pointing, smiling and maybe a little Chinese, can walk out with a big serving of rice, three sides of vegetables and some kind of meat, usually chicken. It may also come with a little tofu or something that the owner feels like throwing in. I got a chicken drumstick one day, brought it, wrapped, to my school before class, and when I opened the box was oh-so-happy to see a boiled squid on top of my chicken and rice. Bonus. It smelled so bad and looked so gross. I couldn't throw it away inside the school. I had to walk it out to a trash can outside. I eat most things, but squid, whole and boiled, just doesn't do it for me.

Protein is not eaten as much, in proportion to carbohydrates, here. Like I mentioned, people usually eat two or three servings of vegetables to one serving of protein. One thing I love about being here is that I'm only fifteen minutes away from a harbor where I can get fresh seafood. A fairly large tray of sashimi is only about three U.S. dollars. Not bad. That is my weekend treat.

But, the world is getting smaller. McDonald's is big here, as is KFC and Burger King. Even Subway is here. Frito Lay and Mars Candy have their greedy, fat fingerprints all over here. I still eat Doritos, occasionally, damn it. Kids like sweet things here, too, so they are getting fatter.I'd still take any ten Americans in a tug-of-war, but in twenty years, there's no telling.