RE: Miss. Delicious #80 : The Cow Inn - Ximen, Taipei!
john, thank you for the quick reply and noted insight.
I've written a little about the Chinese attitude towards fine dining, amongst other activities considered superficial. But, it's very much endowed in the Chinese psyche because of it's lagging development relative to the west. Take afternoon tea for example, the British have had this for hundreds of years and no longer consider this activity a big deal. The Chinese on the other hand only discovered this in recent years. To them, it means more than just having tea, it is a symbol of status. Countries that developed into wealthier economies in recent years and in short spaces of time, all exhibit this typical behaviour. The Asian Dragons - Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong. And now China.
As time passes, the rest of society catches up, and flamboyant displays of decadence no longer become central to attracting the attention of peers. People start going back to basics, as you said enjoying things like McDonalds which is becoming as popular as 7 Eleven is in Taiwan.
In the words of Rick Warren, people stop spending money they don't have, on things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.
Whilst I do enjoy fine dining, I certainly never turn away from establishments like the Cow Inn, and if i'm honest, I've never rated Michelin restaurants higher than these restaurants in terms of quality of food, I would be a very biased and selective connoisseur if I did!
I stand by tasting food from all walks of life, whether it's a fried pancake from a night market stall on the corner of the street, or foie gras and caviar from The Dorchester in Mayfair. To be honest, i'd probably choose nightmarket food any day of the week! :)
I appreciate that about you, sssj - you are all about the food and not the display.
You are an amazing person. Your reading and experience travelling has broadened your taste and provided you with insight into more than merely matters culinary.
A quite from Rick Warren? You certainly do live a purpose-driven life :)
Thank you for the insight into the changing Chinese attitude toward the rituals surrounding the afternoon tea - very interesting, and appropriate especially considering the long tradition of tea in China.
By the way, I would like to see a post sometime in the near future about cats. Yes, I have a cat, or rather he has me, but I'm not given over to ailurophilia rampant on Youtube. My tabby is my Muse, but lately, I've only caught glimpses of your feline companions.
Just a small request :)
The problem with the Michelin rating system is that people's tastes are influenced heavily by what they eat growing up, and therefore, what food is considered better or worse tasting depends on culture. Michelin is super biased towards french restaurants, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - Michelin is just a french tire company which originally made the guide as a way to market themselves towards french motorists, and of course they would target their customers. It's only a problem when they try to make it more general than that, and say that the guide is some official measure of objective tastiness when it really isn't.
I think crowdsourced rating systems like yelp or google maps are better at identifying tasty food rather instead of "fancy" food, but you could also say that its just targeting millenials/people who like smartphones. In something as subjective as food there is no such thing as a rating system without bias, it's just a matter of finding experts / systems that have similar tastes to you personally.