On August 27, 2022 (Sat), a workshop was held to learn Chinese while cooking and tasting a Taiwanese home-style dish called ” Lu Rou Fan ” together with Ms. Shi, a trilingual teacher from Taiwan.

There is a saying that “Eating out of the same pot.” and “Communication while drinking.” are such common phrases, that sharing food with others brings you closer and makes you feel closer to each other. This workshop was exactly like that, with a friendly atmosphere from start to finish, and it was an event bringing Taiwan closer to us.

Teacher Shi’s Interview:”世界を身近に”世界中の先生から学ぶインタビュー①台湾出身 シさん

【Flow of the Workshop Day】

Main flow of the workshop day is as follows.
1) Introduction of Dr. Shi & Participants’ Self-Introduction
2) Recipe Explanation
3) Cooking & Chinese Lesson
4) Tasting & Social

Vital, cheerful & caring trilingual Ms. Shi

Ms. Shi graduated from Taiwan University with majors in Japanese language. (JLPT N1 & TOEIC score 750)
After working as a customer service representative at a hotel, she worked in the IT industry producing manuals related to robotics and AI, and participated in interpretation and system implementation projects for a Japanese company that is expanding globally.
Working as a bridge between countries all over the world.

Mr. Shi is a globally active teacher.
Why did Ms. Shi choose the “Japanese Department” at her university?
She says it was because she was so touched when she came to Kyoto on a family trip.
The touching experience was a moment that defined her life schedule.

3 Key Points to make Lu Rou Fan – Learn Recipe

After introducing the teacher, we moved on to cooking, and while cooking, Ms. Shi gave us various pointers on how to make Lu Rou Fan tasty.

By the way, have you ever heard about “Lu Rou Fan”?
Lu Rou Fan is a dish similar to Japanese stewed pork cubes topped with rice.
Lu Rou Fan, a stewed dish, may seem brown and strong in flavor, but the taste was mellow.

But why?
The reason was related to Taiwan’s unique “soy sauce”.

Cooking Workshop – Cooking Tips

Tip 1: Taiwanese Soy Sauce
Taiwanese soy sauce is sweet and not as salty as Japanese soy sauce. It is delicious!
It may be a little like Kyushu soy sauce, but sweeter and mellow.

Teacher Shi. says, “This Taiwanese soy sauce is the key point!”.
The Taiwanese soy sauce from the manufacturer that she brought with her was sent by her mother for this event, which was not sold in Japan.
We are glad that the teacher was so thoughtful as to bring something delicious to introduce Taiwanese food.(Taiwanese soy sauce itself can be purchased at overseas food stores.)

Although the dish made with Japanese soy sauce was delicious, but compared to Taiwanese soy sauce, it was better suited to the dishes.

Tip 2: Cook the Fatty Parts & Meat Parts Separately
Use pork meat(ribs) in Lu Rou Fan.
The point is to cook the fatty part and the meaty part separately!
First of all, remove excess fat from the meat and heating the fatty part well.
This process is to change the texture of the meat.
The fat that comes out can be saved and used in stir-fries and other dishes to enhance the flavor.

Tip 3: For Sweetness, Use Rock Crystal Sugar!
The point of the sugar is to use white rock crystal sugar!
That will make it mellow.
Glacial sugar is often used only to make plum syrup or fruit syrup.
However, when used in cooking, it gives a mellow finish, which was an eye-opening experience.

There are also many other points to make it tasty, such as adding black pepper and fried onions, depending on your preference.

我想吃滷肉飯! 很好吃! : I want to eat Lu Rou Fan! Very tasty! – Learn Chinese

The following are some of the comments we received after the workshop.→During the meat cooking, we had a chance to study with Chinese lesson prepared by the teacher.
As for Chinese, four tones are difficult, but we challenge it without hesitation first!
If you can’t say “I want to eat Lu Rou Fan.” or “It’s very delicious!” in Chinese, you won’t get to eat it.
Teacher suggested this rule for this workshop to encourage everyone to try it (lol).

For example, when traveling to Taiwan or China, or when speaking in Chinese, you will immediately use every day phrases in daily life or shopping.The Chinese conversation practice focused on phrases that you might use in your daily life or while traveling.Materials for the workshop were also written in English, which made it easier to understand.

Now time to try the dish!!!!Delicious Lu Rou Fan & watermelon seeds?

Now it’s time to taste the dish!
This time, Ms. Shi also specially prepared “Cha Ye Dan,” eggs that are eaten as a snack in Taiwan.
This egg is so famous in Taiwan that it is even sold in convenience stores, just like “Oden” in Japan.
It is similar to “Oden” in Japan.It was also delicious.

Also, Taiwanese snacks such as dried mangoes, watermelons, and sunflower seeds also were served with them.
“Watermelon seeds are a snack?”
It was a culture shock to learn that watermelon seeds are a snack, and also surprising to realize the size of the seeds.The seeds were so thin that it was difficult to take them out….

In China and Southeast Asia, eating watermelon seeds as a snack seems to be commonplace, and one participant told us that when he traveled there, he saw adults eating them on trains normally.
If you can eat watermelon seeds, you are as good as an Asian gourmet? (lol).

While eating Lu Rou Fan and snacks, the participants listened to the stories of the teacher’s global activities and stories of other participants, laughing at times, admiring at other times, and being stimulated by each other.
Despite the short time together, the conversation and the food were just like those in Taiwan.
It was a wonderful experience, as if we were all studying together before going on a trip.

Broaden Our Horizons! ~Commons from participants~

The following are some of the comments we received after the workshop.

• I was nervous about participating in the event by myself, but after working together with the other participants, I was able to be comfortable with them.
• It was a great opportunity for me to experience the atmosphere, because even if I wanted to learn about international exchange and different cultures, it would be a hurdle in terms of time and money to suddenly attend a Chinese lesson etc.
• Sometimes I feel anxious because I work remotely more and some days I don’t talk to people, but it was good to be able to share my feelings with people in similar situations as myself.
• Since I have been working remotely more and cooking for myself, I thought I would definitely try making Lu Rou Fan.
• Ms. Shi was cheerful and vital, which energized me.
• It was interesting to hear her interesting stories about her work with the overseas subsidiaries of Japanese companies.
• After hearing that Ms. Shi decided to study Japanese after visiting Kyoto on a family vacation, I felt that experience is important.　I want my children to experience many things, and I also want to broaden my own horizons.
• Since there were participants from various professions, I was able to broaden my world by listening to stories from various industries.
• Having traveled to Taiwan before, but not having had the opportunity to learn about lifestyles in that country, Ms. Shi’s stories helped me to learn a little about it.　Since the culture of eating out for breakfast is so prevalent, it was surprising to hear that many people buy their breakfast and eat it at school.
• Ms. Shi walked us to the front door and even gave us an egg(Cha Ye Dan) as a souvenir! (lol).　It seems that Taiwanese mothers helped us a lot for this workshop event, and it made us very happy to see their thoughtfulness.

次回は、「カンボジアってどんな国？聞いてみよう・食べてみよう」

ワークショップが終了した後も、先生や残った方たちでゆっくりお話されていく方もいらっしゃいました。シ先生ありがとうございました。

第三回となる次回は、9月18日（日）「カンボジアってどんな国？聞いてみよう・食べてみよう」です。

TAKE A NAP 9月（ワークショップ&交流会）のお知らせ – TAKE A NAP公式

世界との幸運な出会いを、もっと身近に「TAKE A NAP」

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