The circus continues

Just to catch you up on some of the latest goings on...

It looks like the U.S. beef imports circus is going to continue. After a dancing donkey and poodle act, it appears the issue will go to a referendum. The only thing more ridiculous than letting the beef industry sway U.S. foreign policy, is the idea that the average Taiwanese person is informed enough to decide Taiwan's domestic policy. While the ruling KMT has used the beef debacle to give a thorough demonstration of their ineptness, the opposition DPP has proven to be merely vacuous and opportunistic. Along with pushing for the referendum and the cost and distraction it would entail, they were quick to point out that it should be held during other elections to ensure the minimum turnout is achieved. In other words, they know nobody cares enough about this issue to actually turn up and vote on it.

On the other side of the coin, the New York Times recently published an article exposing the questionable practices used by the U.S. beef industry in hamburger processing. In recent years processed hamburger has included a product that is created from 'fatty trimmings' that in the past were not considered safe enough to be allowed for human consumption and were only used in pet foods. This 'jelly' is created from the eyes, tonsils, ganglia and other undesirable parts of the cow. These 'trimmings' are highly prone to ecoli and salmonella contamination. A company called Beef Products inc. came up with a novel method whereby the jelly created from these parts is gassed with ammonia to kill the bacteria. The USDA allowed this product to be included in hamburger based only on the findings of studies funded by the company in question. For some reason, ammonia is not listed as an ingredient, despite the fact that handlers of this product have detected a strong odor of ammonia emanating from the jelly even when frozen and have returned the product as unfit for consumption. On top of this, contamination has been detected on several occasions in their product and large-scale outbreaks of food poisoning have been linked to it as well. Several scientists working for the USDA were in disagreement of their employer's decision to approve the product.

Carl S. Custer, a former U.S.D.A. microbiologist, said he and other scientists were concerned that the department had approved the treated beef for sale without obtaining independent validation of the potential safety risk. Another department microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, called the processed beef "pink slime" in a 2002 e-mail message to colleagues and said, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.”

This product is used in the hamburger of fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King. It is also used in the school lunch program in the U.S. as it reduces their hamburger budget by a million dollars a year.

And while we happen to be on the issue of the U.S. school lunch program. This article from Washington Monthly outlines the kind of questionable practices that are carried out by this program under the approval of the USDA. KFC and Subway are allowed to set up shop in schools throughout the country, while the quality of meals produced by the program itself is equally unhealthy. Revenue from soda and junk food vending machines now provides a vital portion of funding for most schools. State governments also benefit from the sale of these products in schools as most have now instituted a tax on sugared beverages based on the logic that they are unhealthy. The Donkey went on a rant about this obvious hypocritical conflict of interest in an earlier post.

But to return to the circus in Taiwan, the U.S. government has recently shown they will not let offal interfere with their geopolitical agenda by approving the sale of 'Patriot' missiles to Taiwan by Lockheed Martin. The missiles could theoretically be used to shoot down short-range missiles launched against Taiwan by China. I guess we should be thankful that the interests of Lockheed Martin balance out the interests of Beef Products Inc. in the U.S. Congress. I feel safer already.

The Pirates of Taitong City

Last week, I had the privilege to visit a couple of old friends down in Taitong, on the east coast of Taiwan. They have recently opened a guesthouse and restaurant, and have been working hard to get it all up and running. I was very impressed on the whole.

Artist, leather-worker, and widely-known costumer of Taiwan rock acts, Roman McNamara and his equally talented wife, Emily, are making for themselves a life in paradise worth a thousand envies of us city-dwellers. A few months ago, they teamed up with another old Taichungian friend, Zac Harper and his wife Divine to create a funky, affordable guesthouse equipped with a killer burger restaurant on the first floor.

Pirate's is a four-storey building located on 353 Chung Hua Road, Section 2. It's easy enough to find if you're coming to Taitong via the number 11 coastal highway. Upon entering Taitong City, the 11 forks off left and right. The right tine of the fork is Chung Hua Road. Follow it for few blocks and you will see Pirate's on the left side of the road. Keep an eye out for a leather flag brandishing skull and cross....knife and fork, billowing from the 3rd floor.

Rooms are spacious, the beds are that beautiful marriage of soft and firm, and much of the supporting furniture in the rooms is handcrafted by Roman and Zac from locally found pieces of driftwood. Close your eyes and the aromas of cypress waft in and transform this 4 storey walk-up into a log cabin. Better yet, head up to the rooftop, gaze at the stars at night, or enjoy the sea view by day.

Rooms go for NT400 per person, per night. You can't beat that in Taitong. Hailed as Taiwan's top tourist spot, unwitting travelers often find themselves paying muchos dollarinos for little better than a rinky-dink bed in some reconverted brothel. Head to Pirate's. If you're coming by plane or train, or happening to be heading back to the wan from Orchid or Green Island, they'll even come get you. The same service applies when you must reluctantly depart Taitong's majestic serenity for the train station or airport. Overall, I had a great time. The beach is only a few minutes drive away, and scooters and a jeep can be rented from Pirate's at overly-reasonable fees.

In proper Hungry Donkey fashion, we shall finish our observations with some tasty meats, cooked up in the D&Z Cafe. Located on the first floor of the Pirate's guesthouse, decorated with old LP art, driftwood tables, and an underlying 50s diner feel, the D&Z specialize in burgers. To be more precise--ostrich burgers. In keeping with their fresh and healthy approach to food and life at Pirate's, Zac chose ostrich over beef for it's low fat content, and in particular for the free-range, chemical and hormone free life the ostrich enjoys before visiting your plate as a sumptuous and choice burger. I couldn't believe it. The texture is a little firmer than beef, but just as juicy. I would say that an ostrich burger patty has everything flavor-wise that beef has, without that heavy bloated feeling you get after eating a sizable portioned hamburger. I tell you this; I experienced no post traumatic food coma. And although their are also pork-based burgers on the menu--and I do possess a pork-tooth, a veritable molar rather, I opted for ostrich each time.

The menu itself is basic enough; yet ranges from a 50 buck kid's burger to a killer mexican burger, then off again to a very good Hawaiian burger. As a Taipeinese, I almost dropped a mouthful of my burger on my plate when I noticed that my bill for a Mexican, fries, and a coke came to only 150NT! Being one of the few foreign-run restaurants in the Taitong area, you definitely need to hit the D and Z cafe for some mouth-watering hamburgarian times.

Nearing my departure, I had a chance to talk to Roman about how he felt his life has changed since moving to Taitong. Wielding a chainsaw in one hand, a thick glass of some purple health potion in the other, he looked up from his work of transforming the neighbor's junkyard into a public park and patio area, and said, "I've never worked so hard, or been so happy in my life." And when the management can say such poignant words as these, whilst separating bags of trash from old sinks in their soon to be park, you know you've found a good spot to visit and stay a few nights. More information can be found at the D&Z Cafe's website.  Click here.