Nantou County exotic food sharing event, with Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung in attendance

The Taiwan New Residents' Rights Concern Association and the Nantou County New Brides Concern Association held the "Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction, Cherish Taiwan Exotic Food Sharing Social" event on the morning of June 18 at the planned site for the New Residents' Home in Mingjian Township. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, Food and Drug Administration Director-General Wu Hsiu-mei, County Magistrate Lin Ming-chen, Legislator Lin Ching-yi, County Councilor Chen Chao-yu, and Mingjian Township Chief Chen Wen-te all made a special point of attending. The event attracted nearly 600 registrations, and the scene was bustling.

Association Chairwoman and Councilor Lo Mei-ling, who was born in Malaysia, generously shared her private recipes. She said the same plant may have different names in different countries. Take Malaysian pandan leaves, for example: in Taiwan they are called seven-leaf orchid, and in Malaysia they are a frequent guest at the dining table, yet in Taiwan few people know they are suitable for cooking. She hoped this sharing event would promote them so more people would know about them, and also encouraged the use of local ingredients to prepare exotic dishes, reducing the transport of ingredients to save energy and cut carbon.

This event offered more than ten kinds of specialty dishes from Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries, such as Vietnamese green papaya salad and water spinach, all made with fresh local ingredients bought on the spot, plus Indonesian turmeric rice flavored with Mingjian turmeric powder and Indonesian curry enriched with Taiwan-grown jackfruit, all using locally sourced ingredients. There were also energy-saving and carbon-reduction short films, prize quizzes, parent-child DIY activities, and related policy promotions.