Ep 322 | Day After Analysis of the Great Recall with Dr Linda Gail Arrigo
Talking Taiwan
On July 27th the day after Taiwan’s island wide historic recall vote of 24 Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) legislators, I sat down with Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) to reflect on the results of the recall vote, and the impact of the civic mobilization behind the recall effort. Related Links:
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Ep 321 | The Day of Taiwan's Historic Recall Vote
Talking Taiwan
On July 26th the day of the historic vote to recall 24 Kuomintang (KMT) legislators we were with the Shān chú wēi hài (山除薇害) recall group in Taipei at Rongxing Garden (榮星花園) Rongxing garden, which is more like a park, for a sort of watch party with about a hundred volunteer recall campaigners. The recall vote results were being televised live on a series of oversized screens that had been set up in the park. When we finally learned the results of the recall vote It was a shock. 0 of 24 legislators had been recalled. What a sad, disappointing day. I could see it...
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Ep 320 | First Day in Taiwan, Day Before The Great Recall
Talking Taiwan
On our first day in Taiwan July 25th we went into the streets of Taipei where recall campaigners from the the Shān chú wēi hài (山除薇害) recall group were doing a last minute push asking people to get out and vote for the recall of 24 KMT legislators on July 26th. Related Links: We previously interviewed 3 recall campaigners from this group- Carol, Eric and Acho in episode 316. Eric explaining the meaning behind the recall group’s name. Later that day we sat down to interview A-Mei the recall group’s spokesperson who was doxed by the Kuomintang. ...
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Ep 319 | Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back
Talking Taiwan
Summer is upon us and I’m sure that a lot of our listeners especially those in New York will be happy to know that Taiwanese Waves will be returning to Central Park’s Summer Stage on August 3 at the Rumsey Playfield. Doors open at 5:00pm Since 2016 Taiwanese Waves has introduced Taiwanese music to audiences at Central Park’s Summer Stage. If you’re not familiar with Taiwanese Waves you’re in for a treat. In this episode I sat down with Mia, the main organizer of Taiwanese Waves and we are about to walk through and give you a taste of all of the acts that have performed at...
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Ep 318 | Meet Taiwanese YouTuber Ba Jiong 八炯
Talking Taiwan
In late June, we met up with YouTuber Bā Jiǒng (八炯) when he was in New York. If you’re not familiar with Bā Jiǒng you might want to check out 2 of his most popular videos which expose China’s United Front’s tactics to target the Taiwanese and to recruit Taiwanese influencers to attack and spread disinformation about Taiwan. Then you’ll know why he’s had death threats. Related Links: Bā Jiǒng is among those spearheading the recall of Fu Kun-chi, the KMT legislator known as “The King of Hualien.” Fu Kun-chi is 1 of 24 Kuomintang KMT legislators who will be...
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Ep 317 | The Great Recall Explained by Courtney Donovan Smith
Talking Taiwan
In Taiwan recall bids have been filed against 35 of the 39 Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang or KMT lawmakers who were directly elected to the legislative yuan in January, 2024. Recall campaigners have said that they want to restore order to Taiwan’s legislative yuan, by removing pro-China KMT legislators who have passed amendments to expand the legislature’s powers, undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order by paralyzing the constitutional court, cut budgets and made Taiwan vulnerable to infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party. Related Links: Just a few days...
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Ep 316 | The Great Recall Movement in Taiwan: A Historic Unprecedented Boots on the Ground Exercise in Democracy
Talking Taiwan
Have you heard about the great recall movement that’s happening in Taiwan? What’s it all about? Related Links: 24 lawmakers, or legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang KMT party are being put up for a recall vote. I don’t think the world has ever seen anything like this happen on a national level in a democracy- 24 lawmakers being recalled from office, and that number is likely to be even higher at the time that this episode gets released. It’s truly unprecedented! This recall vote certainly didn’t happen overnight. It was through dedicated grassroots efforts, of...
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Ep 315 | Julien Oeuillet The Voice of South Taiwan Shines a Spotlight on Kaohsiung
Talking Taiwan
Julien Oeuillet is an independent journalist, who has produced content for Radio Taiwan International and TaiwanPlus. He is the Founding Editor of IPON the Indo-Pacific Open News. Related Links: Back in November of 2024 we interviewed Julien about a broad number of topics including: How he is very much at home in Kaohsiung How he got his start in broadcasting and media What he thinks makes a good and bad journalist especially in Taiwan How he focuses on putting a spotlight on Kaohsiung and southern Taiwan through his Radio Taiwan International show, The Voice of South Taiwan...
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Ep 314 | A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner
Talking Taiwan
We recently sat down with Wen-Jen Deng one of the artists in residence at the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s House 17 on Governors Island and Ming Turner, curator of Wen-Jen’s art exhibit :The Embedded Stitch- Contemporary Fiber Art, which is currently showing at Tenri Cultural Institute until June 28th Related Links: According to Deng’s curator Ming Turner, “Deng is a core member of the influential Taiwanese artist collective, Hantoo Art Group. Her early works were primarily oil paintings which incorporated embroidery and collage using traditional Taiwanese floral fabrics....
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Ep 313 | Passport to Taiwan 2025: Ben Hedges A Laowai's View of China, Ambassador Lee of TECO, and TAAC
Talking Taiwan
This past Sunday, May 26th we stopped by the annual Passport to Taiwan that’s held in New York City’s Union Square Park. The first Passport to Taiwan was held in 2002 and it’s become the largest outdoor Taiwanese American event in the entire United States. Related Links: While there I spoke with the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s (TAAC’s) Executive Director Luchia Meihua Lee, Ambassador Tom Lee of TECO-NY, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, and Ben Hedges, host of Lao Wai Kan Zhongguo also known as the A Laowai's View of China & Taiwan YouTube channel....
info_outlineLast year I came across an article in the Gothamist titled, A Taiwanese food crawl in the East Village with NYC writer Cathy Erway. I have of course heard of Cathy Erway and her cookbook and thought to myself, Why haven’t I had her on Talking Taiwan as a guest yet? For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cathy’s work, she is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and author based in New York City. Her cookbooks include The Food of Taiwan: Recipes From the Beautiful Island and Win Son Presents: A Taiwanese American Cookbook.
Her cookbook, The Food of Taiwan which was published in 2015 is the first cookbook from a major U.S. publisher to explore the food culture of Taiwan from home-style dishes to authentic street food. We talked about how publishers rejected the cookbook at first and how it eventually got published.
She also has a Facebook page called The Food of Taiwan, and if you’re a Taiwanese food lover, I highly recommend liking and following it. On the page, Cathy shares news about Taiwanese food like where to get the best Taiwanese food in and out of Taiwan, and new Taiwanese restaurant openings.
Cathy Erway’s journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Eater, Grub Street, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and more. She is a columnist at TASTE, and received the James Beard Award for Home Cooking journalism in 2019. In 2021, she received the IACP Culinary Award for her column.
This episode is part of the trailblazing Taiwanese women's series sponsored by NATWA the North America Taiwanese Women's Association, which was founded in 1988. To learn more about NATWA visit their website, www.natwa.com.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
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How Cathy started off writing a blog called Not Eating Out in New York, which led to her first book, The Art of Eating In
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Cathy’s cookbook The Food of Taiwan
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The article in the Gothamist about Taiwanese restaurants in the East Village
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Cathy’s Facebook page The Food of Taiwan
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How Cathy has had a Google alert set on the term Taiwanese food for 20 years
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How things have changed in the 10 years since The Food of Taiwan was published
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How the owners of Taiwanese restaurants in New York City (Win Son, 886, and Ho Foods) are all friends
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How Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry has contributed to the interest in Taiwanese cuisine
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How Cathy learned to cook and her parents’ cooking styles
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How Cathy’s family is foodies
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Cathy’s connection to Taiwan
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What went into creating The Food of Taiwan
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How the photography of The Food of Taiwan was an important part of the cookbook
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How The Food of Taiwan got rejected by several publishers
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How The Food of Taiwan is a snapshot of all the foods in Taiwan including home-style foods and street food, up to 2015, the year it was published
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How The Food of Taiwan includes foods that are unique to Taiwan
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How the recipes in The Food of Taiwan suggests substitutions for certain ingredients that might be hard to find
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How Cathy met Josh Ku and Trigg Brown of Win Son
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How Cathy collaborated with Josh Ku and Trigg Brown of Win Son on Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook
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How hard it was to convince the editor to publish The Food of Taiwan
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Other Taiwanese cookbooks that have been written by Clarissa Wei, Frankie Gaw, Tiffy Chen, and George Lee
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How Cathy is working on an article about the frozen dumpling business for Taste
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Topics that Cathy writes about like how tamari is a different product in Japan vs. the U.S.
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Té Company tea house in the West Village, Yumpling restaurant in Long Island City, Ho Food restaurant in the East Village
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Cathy’s favorite Taiwanese dish is sān bēi jī (three cup chicken)
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How Taiwanese breakfast foods are now available at Win Son Bakery and Ho Foods
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