Turkish Wu Feng loves Taiwan / Olympics vs. "queueing" — Taiwanese would definitely win gold

Text and photos by Wu Feng / Excerpted from “A Hometown Boy Loves Taiwan: 28 Surprising Life Moments of Wu Feng”

About Wu Feng:
Chinese name Wu Chengfeng, a “hometown boy” (Turk), though not actually that old. Fluent in Turkish, German, English, and Chinese, both spoken and written. Originally worked as a tour guide in Turkey, but one day had an epiphany (what kind?), feeling that this way of life wasn’t sustainable. So, having always harbored a vague longing for Taiwan, he worked hard in university after graduation, got into Ankara University, studied Chinese and Sinology intensively, and after four years earned a Taiwan scholarship, finally realizing his dream of studying at Taiwan Normal University.

After arriving in Taiwan, everything about the place opened this “hometown boy’s” eyes wide—its diverse and astonishingly different customs compared to Turkey, and the warm, hospitable nature of Taiwanese people, all left a deep impression on Wu Feng.

These cultural shocks didn’t scare him away—in fact, they made him fall even more deeply in love with everything about Taiwan. Now, he’s lived in Taiwan for six years and has become a true blue “local Taiwanese” who feels like the apocalypse is coming if he goes a day without eating tofu pudding.

Turks and Taiwanese both love a good crowd, but there’s a slight difference in essence. In Turkey, if there’s a car accident, a crowd will definitely gather to watch. Though Taiwanese people might do the same to some extent, they’re even more enthusiastic about gathering around food-related spots.

Whenever they spot a tasty street food stall or a popular restaurant, Taiwanese people will definitely go there to join in and start queuing. Every time I see a long line in front of a restaurant, I’m amazed—people are actually willing to wait in such a long queue just for that place. At first, I even thought the restaurant was giving out free food.

If Taiwanese only queued during special events like department store anniversary sales, I could understand—that happens in Turkey too. But even a tiny street food stall can make Taiwanese people willingly gather around. That I just can’t quite figure out.

When I first came to Taiwan, the first time I saw a big crowd gathering, I curiously joined the line. I was really hoping to find out what delicious food we were waiting for—such a long line must mean it’s famous, right?
When it was my turn, I happily asked the boss, “After waiting so long, what can we eat?”
The boss answered nonchalantly, “Chicken cutlet.”
I was shocked. How come it’s just chicken cutlet? I waited so long just for a chicken cutlet?!
The boss said, “Because my chicken cutlet is really famous, so people come to queue up every day.”
Hearing the boss’s answer, I almost cried. I’ve never waited that long for a chicken cutlet in Turkey—in my mind, a chicken cutlet is just a chicken cutlet, no matter how you eat it, it’s all the same.

Speaking of which, you’ll probably laugh at me, this foreigner who doesn’t get it. Sigh, I really don’t understand—but for Taiwanese people, the most important thing about a good restaurant or night market is that it has to be lively. A shop’s popularity represents its reputation and taste. But for foreigners, being too lively isn’t always great—it gets crowded, and you often have to wait a long time for your meal. Maybe I’m just a lazy foreigner; when I’m hungry, I prefer to eat quickly. I can’t be like Taiwanese people, queuing until my feet almost give out, all just for food—unless it’s my favorite tofu pudding or marinated snacks.

But if Wang Jie held a concert, I’d be willing to queue until I faint—no problem at all.

Taiwanese people aren’t afraid to queue because, for them, the most important thing is eating delicious food. Even in freezing winter weather, everyone still queues stubbornly—it’s crazy. Also, the topic Taiwanese people love discussing the most is where to find tasty food.

If a Taiwanese person decides to eat dumplings today, they definitely have a mental list of “super delicious dumplings” and immediately know where to go. Unlike me—even for restaurants I really like, if I see a long queue, I’ll immediately change my plan and grab a bite at some random place. Foreigners are really too weak, haha. Even when I was filming the “Travel King” show, and we needed to find lunch, the crew would always check in advance for the busiest or most well-known local spots. But for me, I really can’t tell the difference between this beef noodle shop and that one—why does it have to be a specific restaurant? I just don’t get it.

I feel like every hungry Taiwanese person is like a soldier—their mission is “to eat.” Even so, you rarely see Taiwanese people fighting while queuing—everyone is very orderly. Abroad, conflicts easily break out over queuing, and I’ve seen it happen in Turkey—people even get into physical fights over cutting in line. It’s outrageous and ridiculous.

I think a big reason Taiwanese people love queueing for food is because Taiwan’s food shows are just so amazing. Even Turkey, which is twenty-five times bigger than Taiwan, doesn’t have food shows that good. The way Taiwanese food show hosts introduce food is also different from those abroad. Most foreign food show hosts, after eating something, will say, “Wow, I like this, it’s delicious, it’s great, it’s perfect!” But Taiwanese hosts describe the taste and texture of the food vividly and exaggeratedly—which naturally gets everyone excited about the food.

Not just food shows—even the news covers lots of food-related stories. At the same time, foreign news might report on Obama or international affairs, but Taiwanese news will cover beef noodles and scallion pancakes. I always can’t help thinking—if the Olympics had a “queuing” event, Taiwanese people would definitely win the gold medal.