My name is Matthias, I'm from Germany and I'm a first-year student in Taiwan.
Have you ever heard of the "pig blood cake"?
The pig blood cake is a very important part of the Taiwanese food culture,
which unfortunately seems to lose it's popularity, especially for young people.
If it's the first time that you hear about the pig blood cake
you might feel a bit confused and wonder:
How can somebody come up with that idea to put blood into a cake?
So I always imagined the famous Taiwanese Moon Cake
just with the filling of blood.
The confusion is simply made by it's name,
because we refer it to a real kind of cake.
The pig blood cake, in fact, is a mix of pig blood and glutinous rice.
It can be boiled, steamed, braised or deep fried.
In the usual way it will be steamed,
cut in a rectangle shape and placed on a stick.
Later on, the seller will use a special dip.
And if you want, you can have it spicy.
Once it is coated in it's sauce,
it will be covered with peanut powder
and Chinese parsley.
It is not easy to find out very much about it's history,
because the origin is not 100% sure.
But it is believed, that it first appeared after World War II in Dadaocheng,
which is in the Datong district of Taipei city.
It was a time when the people suffered from poverty.
And these people highly believed that pig blood is very nutritious,
so they went to the slaughterhouses in the early mornings
to ask for pig blood.
If you are a tourist in Taiwan
then the Taiwanese will mostly introduce the food,
because they do really love to eat.
The pig blood cake is a good example for this,
because you might think, that it is unusual
to eat something that is made out of pig blood.
And because there are many snacks, different than what you expect,
the Taiwanese will often ask the question
"Do you dare eat (pig blood cake)?"
Okay, let's go somewhere else.
And it's actually really good!
And this one, too. Tastes very good.
This is where my story ends.
I hope I could make the pig blood cake more interesting for you.
I invite you to try it.
To all friends of Taiwan
I dare eat! And you?