CULTURE CLASH: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD AND PEOPLE IN TAIWAN AND IN ITALY

Food is one of the most important things of our lives: It is first of all a primary need because it provides nutritional support for our body (food contains fat, sugar, carbohydrates and proteins, all things we need to face the day) but it is also a “way of life”, which means a way to enjoy life itself and at the same time stay with people and build relationships. Food is also one of the most important topic people talk about: it is seen as a pleasure of life and we always point out the importance of eating healthy and eating well (what's better than a delicious lunch or dinner?)

We all love food because, in a certain way, it is an essential part of our culture; every country has its own typical dish, typical spice, typical drink and everywhere we go we can find local and exotic restaurants. In Italy, for example, we have a lot of pizzerias and restaurants where we can eat pasta, spaghetti, pizza and all the other Italian typical dishes but we also have a lot of foreign restaurants, especially Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian, Thai, Indian, Mexican and many others; I also think about all the Italians restaurants we can find abroad (here in Taichung, in my street ,there are at least 3 or 4). We can really understand the importance of food culture in our lives and how people usually like to change food habits an try new dishes and new tastes.

For that reason, I think that food can easily create relationships between people in any contest of life: in family and friendships, in a dating or in a marriage, at work... It is really common to meet each other for a lunch or a dinner together, or even for breakfast. Friends often meet to eat in the school cafeteria, or they usually have a pizza on Friday night before going out; two people who are dating may have a romantic dinner in a fancy restaurant; work colleagues and classmates can decide to have dinner together in order to strengthen relationships out of the everyday environment of school and work. We can also notice how some of the most important events are created around food, such as the banquet during a wedding (as well as the wedding anniversary) and some national festivals and tastings.

I'd like to focus on the main differences about food and people relationships between Italy and Taiwan because, by the time I'm here, I've noticed some of them.

In Italy, our “food culture” is really strong and every meal is really important for us, especially dinner which is considered the “family moment”, we usually give a lot of importance at it as well as breakfast and lunch; in some countries (like in the US in the UK) people would have a fast lunch with a sandwich or an hamburger because they don't really care too much about it, but in Italy we would never have something like that because, when it is possible, we try to enjoy every single meal with a good pasta and a nice conversation.

As I mentioned before, we can build relationships in many different contests: sometimes we like to enjoy breakfast at the bar with “cornetto and cappuccino”, or maybe with an American breakfast such as pancakes and coffee, whereas dinner is the most important meal and we usually stay at home with our family because it is the moment when we talk about our day and discuss about family issues. When we decide to have dinner with friends we usually go for pizza or sushi (they are the most popular restaurants nowadays), whereas if we have a date with someone or we simply want to go our with our fiancée we usually choose a fancy restaurant with a proper dinner and dessert and we drink wine to create atmosphere and make the dinner more romantic; the most important thing for us is that we like to enjoy the moment, talk and make jokes so when we are in company we always spend around 1 hour or more together. It is really common in Italy to start with a “primo” (which is usually pasta, soup or risotto), than a “ secondo” (fish or meat, with vegetables) and we end up with fruit or dessert and than coffee; it is not always like this and we can skip one of the dishes, but this sequence is really important for us and it takes time, so that's one of the reason why meals are quite long and we need to enjoy them.

In Italian culture we also have meeting which is called “aperitivo”: we usually meet in a bar with our friends around 18.30/19 and we drink wine (prosecco or other types of sparkling white wine) or spritz (a typical drink from Veneto, the region where I am from, which is made with prosecco wine, aperol or campari and sparkling water) and we have it with some chips or other types of pretzels. Aperitivo is a way to enjoy time before having dinner and it is really popular among young; the first “happy hour” took place in Milan in 1980 and sometimes, in the big cities, a normal aperitivo can become “apericena”, which is a mix of aperitivo and dinner, drinking wine not anymore with chips but with a big buffet of pasta, pizza, sandwiches, cheese, ham, fruits and desserts.

About food and people relationship I can also mentions the “sagra”, a local festival that usually takes place in villages and small towns and sometimes also involves historical pageants and sport events. The sagra is always dedicated to some specific local food and the name of the sagra usually includes the name of the food: we can find the “sagra della polenta” (polenta is dish of boiled cornmeal from the North of Italy), the “sagra del radicchio” (a vegetable from Treviso, a city in Veneto), the “sagra dell'arancino” (a stuffed rice ball with meat and beans or with ham and cheese, typical from Sicily, in Southern Italy). Those types of festivals can also include olive oil, wine, pasta, different kind of pastry, chestnuts and cheese. In my hometown for example there is a specific sagra called “gnocchi a tutta birra” which literally means “a lot of gnocchi” (a kind of dumplings made with potatoes eggs and flour) but this is a play of words because “birra means beer and in this sagra the main dishes are of course gnocchi and local beer, and sometimes there are also local bands who play live music.

Talking about Taiwan I can notice a big difference in the food culture, compared with my country. Taiwan is the country of Night Markets and street food, everything here is really cheap comparing to Europe and I realised that not everyone has a kitchen at home (I live in a residence with a kitchen, but some friends of mine doesn't have it): I think that the majority of people barely cook and they often get take away food because all the street food restaurants are really fast and convenient. In my opinion, food culture here is not as strong as it is in Italy because people always eat outside or get food (and tea) to take home, so it is quite common in Taiwanese culture to go out for lunch or dinner, alone or with friends, and this is why almost every Taiwanese stays in the restaurant not more than 10/15 minutes, just the time to eat and than go, and they usually never stay longer to talk and have a chat.

Really popular here are the Night Markets: I think those are the real places where Taiwanese people usually meet and go around to eat together, because they are always full of people and the concept of night market is to go to the street food stands and order some snack or something small in order to be able to get different types of food.

Anyway, it is not always the same because sometimes, for a family dinner or for a date, I think it is more common to go to types of restaurant where it is possible to stay together and enjoy the meal (usually western or fancy restaurants and hotpot places). I remember once I went to a have hotpot with two Taiwanese friends and I tried for the first time the double hotpot to share (half spicy, half normal) and it was really interesting because I usually have my own hotpot: it was a really nice dinner because my friends told me that they like to share food when it is possible, especially when they invite foreign friends, and around Taiwan there are more and more places where the main concept is to sit around a table and share many types of food (I had the same also during my trip to Penghu Island, we were a group of 10 and we shared 10 different dishes between seafood, soups, rice, dumplings).

In conclusion I can say that we can really understand how food is important in every culture and how it is able to connect people in many different way; sometimes food also let us learn about other countries and I think is is the main things when we want to build a relationship with someone.

TABOOS

I have been leaving here for almost 4 months now and, during this period of time, I got to know some of the major taboos of this country.

For example, when I went to a restaurant during the first week here in Taichung a friend told me that, when eating soup noodles, we don’t have to cut them because cutting noodles symbolizes cutting your life, so it basically means “death”, and you don’t have to put your chopsticks vertically in the bowl of rice because it resembles the ritual of incense-burning which also reminds to death.

Another taboo is about the month of July because this is known as “the Ghost Month”: it is thought that, during this period, ghosts would come to Earth and it is better for Taiwanese people to avoid travels, weddings, surgeries and taking pictures after dark. Food and incense are offered to the spirits to avoid them visiting homes and spirit paper money is also burnt and offered to them.

It is better not to use a red pen when writing someone’s name because this color represents blood; writing someone’s name with a red pen may bring this person to a serious accident.

Another thing I noticed is that for Chinese and Taiwanese people the number 4 is seen as a number of bad luck; this is why, in many hotels and hospitals, the fourth floor doesn’t exist.

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Transportation system in Taiwan is really convenient: city buses, taxi, trains, high-speed trains, long-distance buses, MRT...

easy card

In Taichung the city bus is reaaaaally convenient; there are a lot of buses every minute or every 5 to a maximum of 10 minutes and they run until late (I think until 23/23.30 and than there are night buses every one hour) but the best thing is that they are free within 10 km! This means that I always go to the university for free, and when I go to the city center or to the airport I spend around 2 to 5 dollars (about 10 cents). We don't have to buy any ticket for the bus because we pay with the easy card: this is a must have in Taiwan because with this card you usually pay buses and MRT in Taipei and other cities (and sometimes you can also pay the taxi) and you can buys things in convenience stores so it is really useful! But when you use it in the bus be careful: there is a machine close to the bus driver, you have to scan the card when you get on the bus and do it again when you get off, so the machine "knows" how many km you've run and see if you have to pay or not. If you forget to scan it, you will be charged the entire run of the bus (which is 20 dollars, around 50 cents).
Long-distance buses are really convenient too. There are a lot of different companies: HoShin, Ubus (which is basically the Taiwanese "flixbus"), Kingbus, Aloha and they all provide a toilet and phone chargers on board. They are comfortable and always ON TIME! Price is usually between 150 and 250/260 NTD (4 to 7 euros).
Also taxis are affordable here: when we go to clubs we always go by taxi and it is really cheap. For example, for a 20 minutes ride in a group of 4/5 people we usually spend around 50 to 120 NTD dollars each (3/4 euros each), and there are a lot of taxis everywhere! In Taichung there is also Uber so sometimes we use it when there are no taxis available.
I can't speak a lot about high-speed trains and MRT because I didn't take them so much.. I just took the high speed train Taichung-Kaohsiung once to go to Kenting (a seaside place in the south, really nice and with amazing beaches) which was really comfortable, big and clean; and MRT is also really clean and not crowded comparing to Europe (you pay with the easy card and depending on where you have to go you will be charged from 16 to around 50 NTD).