"Food hygiene @ Wulai Township’s Old Street
It was a beautiful sunny day and we’d just ridden the better part of 15kms out from Taipei into Wulai Township.
Finding a place to lock the bicycles up, it was lunchtime and the aromas of Wulai’s Old Street were assaulting our nostrils relentlessly.
Resistance was futile so we set about looking for something to eat.
Not really wanting to sit inside one of the cafe style restaurants that lined the Old Street and in need of a bit of a fat fix after our ride, we decided we’d go for some of the typical night market fare that was on offer.
Fried this, fried that, boiled this, boiled that… you know the stuff.
Down near the Old Street bridge was a section that had no less than five or six Taiwanese sausage stands. Not your delicious rice bun Taiwanese hotdog variety, but rather the bog standard honeyed pork sausage on a stick deal.
Personally I find these sausages much of a muchness no matter where you get them from in Taiwan, so I resided myself to the bridge and took in some of Wulai’s surroundings whilst my girlfriend chose a stand to order from.
Propping myself up against the bridge railing just to the side of some of the hotdog stands, it was then that I spotted this:
Thinking they must have just temporarily left the sausages out in the sun, I kept my eye on the box. Twenty or so minutes later and they were still sitting there.
Figuring there was more sausages in the box, it appeared this particular stand let a selection of sausages sit out in the sun, before plopping them on the grill and taking more sausages out of the box to sit in the sun again.
And if one stall was doing it… they probably all were.
Being out on the bicycles and not wanting to risk the runs, I jumped off the railing and went to find the girlfriend.
‘Yeah so… uh I’ve kinda lost my appetite for sausages.’
‘What?! But I’ve waited so long’.
‘Relax we’ll go get something else. Trust me.’
Crossing over the bridge away from the sausage stalls we then opted in for some delicious Aboriginal style marinated pork kebabs.
Being cooked out in the open and in the sun too, the kebabs were probably only a fraction more hygienic than the sausages. But with the meat not as thick as a sausage I figure you’ve probably got a better shot at, y’know… not dying of salmonella or some such.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:51 pm TaiwanTeacher(Quote)
Good decision. At first glance of the pic, I thought they might be the entrails of a local politician or a rude visitor from the Mainland…
February 24th, 2012 at 10:05 am Herman(Quote)
Aren’t sausages chock full of salt and other preservatives? You see Italian sausages hanging out in the open in delicatessens everywhere.
February 24th, 2012 at 11:25 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
I think hanging indoors in an air-conditioned delicatessen is a bit different to sitting in the sun on a cardboard box in 30deg heat!
February 24th, 2012 at 1:30 pm Herman(Quote)
They’re sun-baked sausages! Good for what ails ya!