Who makes Taiwan’s best fried rice? In a land as food-obsessed as Taiwan, this is a serious question. To find out the answer, a national fried rice cook-off is underway. Regional competitions are now wrapping up, and the champions are gearing up for a national round of finals next month.
Let’s meet some of the competitors.
For three brothers from Yilan County, it was a glorious day. Together, they run a popular local restaurant, where the fried rice is legendary. But not content with local success, they decided to enter a national fried rice competition to see how their take of this staple dish stacks up against the creations of other cooks.
At the regional semifinals for eastern Taiwan, their “three cups chicken” fried rice won over judges. The brothers won in the “classic” category, and will be heading to the national finals next month.
Another creation that captured judges’ attention was made with an array of luxurious ingredients, including lobster, flying fish roe, and a type of edible fern. To top it all off, the dish’s Hualien-based creator sprinkled on a spicy powder made from a relative of cinnamon indigenous to Taiwan.
There’s more than just bragging rights involved in this competition- the winner gets to commercialize their recipe and mass produce it for the national market. Eyeing fame and profit, would-be fried rice champions must now prepare for the toughest level of competition yet. Who will be crowned Taiwan’s king of fried rice?