There’s No Taste Like Home…

…and there’s no place like Southern California for Taiwanese food culture to make itself at home with hungry Taiwanese and American alike.

BY ELYSE GLICKMAN

They came to Taiwan – from the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Europe – for many different reasons. They stayed, to teach English or do business (and in many cases to get married), but eventually they saw and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to run their own restaurant.

BY RICK MONDAY

Lin Tian is a Taiwanese fisherman in his 70s. After more than five decades spent trawling in the Taiwan Strait and Pacific Ocean, he is now “retired” but still puts in a 12-to-14-hour day at the seafood restaurant in Yeliu Village, New Taipei City, started as a quayside stall by his wife and now run by his daughters and daughters-in-law. He also sells fish and crabs caught by his sons and son-in-law. Taiwan Business Topics contributor Mark Caltonhill spent a day with him in late October.

Two of Asia’s top chefs – Choi Io Man and Beat Enderli of Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza in Taipei – compare notes on recipes for success in their demanding profession.

BY TRISTA DI GENOVA

BY MARK CALTONHILL

Momentum is gaining to restrict shark fin consumption, which environmental groups say is having an adverse impact on the world’s marine ecology

BY ALAN PATTERSON

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but you can easily score a meal for half-off at a number of daily group-buying websites.  

BY AIMEE WONG

Foodies in Taipei had a very busy year in 2011, as lots of new and interesting restaurants opened within the past 12 months, offering a wide variety of delicious fare. Taipei’s vibrant dining scene is becoming more and more diverse.

BY ANITA CHEN

BY MARK PETERSON

Chinese Wine:
The Who, What, When, and How (we know the why)

BY MARK CALTONHILL

Getting to Know the Idaho Wine Country

BY KIM PETERSON

A Sky Full Of Lanterns

The Chinese people have been celebrating the Lantern Festival, which they call Yuanxiao Jie or Shangyuan Jie, for at least 1,500 years. When Chinese migrants began arriving in Taiwan more than 400 years ago, the custom of celebrating the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (the first full moon of the new year) was one of the traditions they brought with them. Like other aspects of classical Chinese culture, the festival has thrived in Taiwan’s free and diverse society, evolving as the 21st century progresses. It has become an annual highlight for local residents and visitors alike.