Our physical hunger is easily satisfied these days in America. No matter how busy we are, we can find food quickly — fast-food chain hamburgers and tacos, convenience-store hot dogs, sacks of potato chips and cookies, candy bars, mass-made cupcakes — all within easy reach in our urban and suburban areas. We buy them quickly; we consume them just as quickly in our cars, our offices, around kitchen tables already loaded with the mail and the trash from previous rapidly eaten meals. We are so busy that we seldom have time to eat with others. We fill our stomachs, assuage our hunger, and run to the next challenge of the day. Few and far between are the meals shared with families and friends; few and far between are genuine eating experiences in which nutritious food, nourishing laughter and sustaining life are shared around a table.

            In Taiwan, a country known for its rich varieties of food, the people also have little time to gather with loved ones and actually enjoy eating food together. But when they do, the meal quickly becomes an occasion. First, families in Taiwan, as in most East Asian countries, gather around round tables in which everyone can share, in equal reach of chopsticks, the bounty placed in the middle. Platters of steamed fish and spicy chicken, plates of tofu with vegetables stir-fried in garlic and ginger, bowls full of soup, noodles and rice — all these dishes and more fill the table. It is very bad manners to interrupt a meal partner’s eating pleasure by asking that food be passed; everyone simply reaches across the table for whatever he or she wants. And together the friends or family members, or best of all — both, chatter and laugh until all have received enough. Not only do they talk about their

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