Taipei Winter Solstice Tangyuan Festival: Five-Element Lucky Tangyuan Brings Happiness to Your Table

Written/Compiled and Reported by Li Xinyi, MOOK Travel Life Network

 

With the Winter Solstice just around the corner, Taipei City is hosting the “Winter Solstice Lucky Tangyuan Festival” in the Daqiaotou Yansan Commercial Area. The event will take place at 1:30 p.m. on December 15 (Saturday) at Lane 149, Section 2, Dihua Street. Aside from offering health-conscious five-element tangyuan, the festival will also feature activities such as tangyuan fortune-telling and DIY tangyuan making.

 

Huang Yi-yu, Director of Taipei City’s Department of Commerce, noted that the Daqiaotou Yansan Commercial Area has long been a hub of Taipei’s rice-based food culture. Thanks to the area’s abundant rice production, residents have developed a variety of rice products such as tangyuan, red turtle cakes, grass jelly cakes, and rice vermicelli. This year, to allow the public to taste the most traditional rice foods, the Winter Soluce Lucky Tangyuan Festival will offer classic tangyuan, five-element tangyuan, and various rice-based products for sampling and purchase. Additionally, there will be a DIY tangyuan activity where participants can enjoy the fun of making their own tangyuan. Moreover, Mackay Memorial Hospital in the commercial area will host a lecture titled “How to Eat Tangyuan Healthily and Stay Slim,” teaching attendees how to enjoy tangyuan in a healthy way.

To celebrate this year’s Winter Solstice Lucky Tangyuan Festival, businesses and master chefs in the Daqiaotou Yansan Commercial Area have created colorful and delicious five-element lucky tangyuan following traditional methods. Chen Ying-hui, Chairperson of the Taipei Daqiaotou Yansan Commercial Area Development Promotion Association, explained that the five-element tangyuan are made entirely from healthy, natural ingredients, emphasizing handmade, all-natural qualities without any artificial coloring. The fillings include lotus seed paste (metal), mung bean (wood), vegetable (water), red bean (fire), and peanut (earth), while the dough is colored with natural ingredients such as red yeast rice, matcha, pumpkin, and vegetables, infusing each tangyuan with blessings.

Wish for good luck in 2013 as the year draws to a close—sign up now for the Lucky Tangyuan DIY experience. A box of 10 tangyuan is just NT$35, or get a special deal of 3 boxes for NT$100 (while supplies last). Traditional classic tangyuan are also available at NT$35 per box of 10, or 3 boxes for NT$100. Phone orders accepted three days before the event for pickup on-site. For details, call 02-8771-7768 or 02-2585-3129.

 

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