What Makes the Famous Railway Bento So Delicious? - The Railway Romances Ep3

Reporter/Provider - TaiwanPlus
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Have you tasted the juicy pork chop in a Taiwan Railways bento box? Discover the secret behind the classic flavors in these lunch boxes that keep train guests coming back for more year after year. Railway bento boxes are individual lunch boxes sold in train stations, bento shops, and aboard trains across Taiwan. Railway bentos have been a Taiwan Railway staple for over 74 years and were first sold by hostesses aboard passenger trains. The most famous version of these boxes is the classic pork chop lunch box, which comes with a marinated pork chop, braised egg, tofu, and pickles on a bed of steamed rice. However, countless other styles of bento are also available to satisfy the diverse appetites of train travelers. Every year, fans gather at Taipei Main Station to celebrate and enjoy the vast variety of bentos at the annual Formosa Railroad Bento Festival. An important feature of these bentos is their rice, which originates from the unofficial rice capital of Taiwan, Chishang. The fragrant rice has been perfected over the years and is enjoyed by an average of 20,000 railroad travelers daily. In the era of steam locomotives, bentos were once sold by vendors on the Chishang station platform. Hungry train guests would anxiously await the stop with cash in hand, leaping quickly from the train to snag a tasty meal they could enjoy on the remainder of their journey. Though the platform vending tradition has been abandoned in the era of electric trains, the bentos still carry an air of nostalgia among passengers. Chishang’s Dapo Lake was also once home to the Kikuchi’s minnow, a small but mighty fish that was once a staple component of Chun-Mei Bento Shop’s famous railway bentos. Now, the fish is nearing extinction and has all but disappeared from the lake. Follow one man’s journey to revive the endangered fish and reintroduce it into its ancestral habitat, and maybe, one day, into Taiwan Railway bentos.

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The Railway Romances

This six-episode series introduces unique aspects of the Taiwanese railway. Jump aboard as host Andrew Chau reveals the often-overlooked romance of Taiwan’s railroad. From the beauty of the Western Trunk line to the famous TRA bentos, uncover some hidden railway secrets right here.