A nonchalant "good enough" attitude towards food, craft, life. 差不多 Rant and WHY?

[superking]

Danshui to Xindian is about 60 minutes, 60km, and NT65.

Fair enough, but its still travelling from a beach to a mountain. It's not the same as travelling from Heathrow to Watford as a commuter. Plus that is one isolated fare which must be steep for some particular reason. The underground might appear expensive, but I think it's really reasonable for the centre of London. Cross London for 95nt is not that bad in my opinion.

[Taiwan_Student]

U want excellence? Dont hire family or friends . Hire people who will listen to what you say.

That's harder to do then you would think. Heck, this place is not unlike the American South with cousin Earl, the water/electric guy, cousin Daryl, the roofer, cousin Goober the Mechanic, cousin Maisy the insurance lady.. Heck everybody has a cousin that you must hire first.

Most of the time it works out ok... There's no guarantee that strangers would follow you instructions either... But at least Kin have to come back and mop up.

[Taiwan Luthiers]

You guys are easily impressed. I admire that, really. The HSR stations look to me like a string of shopping malls connected by a railway track.

15 billion dollar excellent piece of engineering and infrastructure that is run very efficiently. A class transport system all round and I have never ONCE had a delay. I use it all the time for work. The ticket price is still cheaper than a second class seat on a regular train in Europe. The Taichung and Hsinchu stations are well designed , now all we need are MRTs to connect them. The UK may get it's first high speed line 10-20 years later and I guess it will be too expensive for the middle class to use.

Of course the Taipei MRT is also getting to world class status and is very clean and efficient and cheap too, again compare to the tube in the London. No comparison.

Sure it's no paradise here but credit should be given where it is due.

Man when I visited a HSR station (not just the Taipei Main Station extension of the HSR) it really reminded me of Europe... everything is clean, fast, efficient. Then the trains are so fast that when you get on the train in Taichung, before you can even get comfortable you're already in Taipei. I still take the bus though when time isn't such an issue because I do like saving money (and its still reasonably fast).

Having visited Berlin Taipei MRT is like a first class DB train. Hell most regular DB trains I took in Germany aren't as clean as Taipei's MRT trains and Germany is supposedly the clean country. Elevators in the U Bahn smelled funny from people going inside... and not to mention you have to contend with strikes or the train just not going where they're supposed to (happened to me a few times, ended going in circle because of that). The fact that it costs more than Taipei MRT to use isn't helping (the monthly/weekly passes helped, but its still expensive)

[Quarters]

Why are people (foreigners) so hell bent on changing things here? Taiwan has its own style, flavor and feel. Stop trying to change it to be "just like home". Go back home if you liked it so much more.
Everybody has different opinions on how things should taste or be done, deal with it. As far as the OP goes...I say, give your noodle stand a try. Do it the way you want to if that is what will make you happy. If it works, good for you! If it fails, then you know what the "market" wants and you can adjust your recipe / technique to what will sell. Be respectful and considerate of your wife. She listened to you about your technique and she seems more comfortable doing it her way. Let her try it her way. If it is you doing the cooking, you can do it your way.

I have cooked many different western dishes that, to me and a few friends, were fantastic. However, a few of the Taiwanese that tried it didn't care for it. To them the flavor of many western foods is too strong. I know if my parents came here to visit, they would hate the local food. Some people just have their comfort zones and don't like venturing out of them. To make your business financially successful, you will need to know your market. And cooking traditional western food that hasn't been altered to meet Taiwanese tastes, may not work too well in a night market.

In any case, best of luck to you.

[Belgian Pie]

The problem in Taiwan is that too much (junk)food (including drinks) is prepared with artificial ingredients (chemicals) taking their clue from the US ... mass production needs chemicals. Although here and there there must be gems lying around that actually care about what they are doing and are NOT concentrated on poisoning the customer for money.

[adikarmika]

In case you missed it in 2008, here's "Mr Chabuduo" by Taiwanese rapper, MC Hotdog.

In the song he basically tells us how everything in his life (his cigarettes, leisuretime, nightlife, TV, hopes and dreams, home, fucking position, etc.) is "chabuduo".

In the refrain he says that chabuduo is innate (天生) to him.

All the lyrics are on the Youtupe page. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqKvu-rqIc

[djkonstable]

It wasn't so much that a pan had to "tossed" it was more an issue of serving noodles quickly. My wife and I are thinking things through, we are thinking about high turn over. My point originally was about 差不多 in Taiwan then as a post note that we have to serve heavy foot traffic which means turning dishes over at super speed. We are now at that point where we may just prepare the food, and pay others to serve it. At the same time, we just don't want to be 差不多. Sure we can crank out food. We both would like it to be more than that.

With deep fried Oreos as a dessert. And my point about 差不多 seems to be answered, I really was wondering if it was just me but if there are songs out about the 差不多 life then I guess it isn't just me.

[Taiwan Luthiers]

It wasn't so much that a pan had to "tossed" it was more an issue of serving noodles quickly. My wife and I are thinking things through, we are thinking about high turn over. My point originally was about 差不多 in Taiwan then as a post note that we have to serve heavy foot traffic which means turning dishes over at super speed. We are now at that point where we may just prepare the food, and pay others to serve it. At the same time, we just don't want to be 差不多. Sure we can crank out food. We both would like it to be more than that.

With deep fried Oreos as a dessert. And my point about 差不多 seems to be answered, I really was wondering if it was just me but if there are songs out about the 差不多 life then I guess it isn't just me.

I hope you have a dishwasher of some kind... washing a crapload of dishes by hand is both inefficient and unsanitary.

[djkonstable]

regular take away noodle/soup bowl would work just fine, I hate dishes, that is how I started out in a kitchen.

[djkonstable]

In my experience development comes out of frustration and being unsatisfied. I am pretty sure that Taiwanese are not satisfied. The youth especially, even if they head off to foreign lands for that prized education, many will find themselves back here to help...Here is to HOPE beyond 差不多.