Rice dishes made on site at the Taiwan, China Rice Expo sell like hotcakes
The "2013 Taiwan Rice Expo" opened today at the Long Corridor Plaza of the Yuanshan Park Area of Taipei Expo Park in Taipei City. In a press release, the Council of Agriculture stated: "In view of consumers' emphasis on place of origin and hygiene and safety, the council specially selected 58 quality grain traders and rice-processing operators to take part." Absent from the venue was the Shanshui Rice company, which had been caught passing off cheap, inferior imported rice as Taiwan rice; the Sanhao Rice and Zhongxing Rice companies, which had also recently been caught in multiple violations, did set up booths on site, but their popularity was far below that of the individual farmers' or farmers' association booths.
On the opening day of the event today, the most popular items were the rice-processed products made on site. The "brown rice cake" and the bread that was emphasized as being made with 100 percent no wheat flour drew huge crowds, with lines continuing until 6 p.m. in the evening, when the event was about to end; some consumers who had already made purchases asked directly which rice-processed products would be sold on site tomorrow.
Brown Sugar Brown Rice Cake: The Star of the Show
This Guanshan Is Not That Guanshan: Professionalism Falls Flat
The Council of Agriculture stated that this year's Taiwan Rice Expo has two main themes: "quality domestic rice" and "rice-processed products." Among these, the "Top Ten Classic Fine Rice Exhibition Area" displays and sells this year's newly selected top ten classic fine rice; the "Fine Rice Gift Box Exhibition Area" displays various quality rice and rice-processed products for wedding gifts, souvenirs and full-month baby gifts; and quality Taiwan rice operators from all over the country are gathered in the "Fine Rice and Rice-Processed Food Exhibition and Sales Area" to convey to consumers the benefits of eating more rice, which is rich in nutrition and healthy.
However, this afternoon, when the event site was promoting rice from the Guanshan area of Taitung, the host, introducing Guanshan's local features, astonishingly said: "Guanshan Sunset" is a well-known scenic view of Guanshan in Taitung, prompting the Guanshan-area farmers participating in the event on stage to hurriedly clarify that this Guanshan is not that Guanshan: "Guanshan Sunset" is a scenic view of the Kenting area of Pingtung, not Guanshan in Taitung. This also greatly diminished the public's impression of the professionalism of the Council of Agriculture in holding this event.
Tomorrow morning, the event site will hold the "2013 Top Ten Classic Fine Rice Award Ceremony"; the Taiwan Rice Expo will continue through Sunday, with various farmers' associations and rice operators offering activities on site such as Facebook check-in and like to get free rice, fill out a questionnaire to get a gift, throw divination blocks to get Dajia Mazu peace-blessing rice, buy a large one and get a small one free, and spend a certain amount to get a gift.
Recently, major domestic grain traders have successively run into trouble, being caught selling inferior, cheap imported rice passed off as Taiwan rice, or claiming to meet the national CNS Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 standards while in fact often padding them out with inferior goods; the public might as well take advantage of the weekend holiday to stroll around the site and get to know the characteristics of rice from various places and the rice farmers.
In addition, the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council of Agriculture stated that this year it has publicly selected three companies - Lianhua Industrial, Taiyi Flour and Pingtung Agricultural Products - to specifically use public rice stocks and supply various rice flours at affordable prices, establishing a new type of rice flour industry chain, giving play to the advantages of locally produced rice and stable quality, popularizing rice flour and rice-wheat premixed flour, driving new development in the rice-processing industry and providing the people with more diversified dietary choices.