The Charm of Taiwan Railway Bento

Original link: https://taiwan.chtsai.org/2023/10/05/taitie_biandang_de_meili/

At noon a few days ago, there was a long line of people waiting in front of the Taiwan Railway lunch box stall at Zuoying High Speed Rail Station to buy lunch boxes. If you take a closer look at who comes to buy lunch boxes, you will find a high level of heterogeneity. All kinds of people came.

Some friends often say disapprovingly, “I don’t know where the Taiwan Railway Bento is delicious.” I often eat railway bento, both from Taiwan Railway and High Speed Rail. I feel like I need to help you clear up some confusion. This photo is actually the answer.

As a secular and affordable public transportation, the most important value of Taiwan Railway is to care for and tolerate everyone. Everyone can afford to take TRA trains and buy TRA lunch boxes. Everyone has the opportunity to come into contact with people who are different from themselves in the process, just like the scene in this photo.

The Taiwan Railway lunch box is indeed not particularly exquisite, but it is basically a lunch box for ordinary people. It is a kind of care and tolerance for people. That atmosphere actually started when we were queuing up to buy bento.

Anyone who regularly buys bento boxes will know what I’m talking about. You always look at who is in front of you and feel their expectations. Some people will start with the sixty-yuan one, and if they don’t have it, they won’t buy it. That’s probably his meal limit. Most people will go straight for the 80-yuan pork rib bento, because they know that’s what they want.

No matter what we buy, these people in line are “us”. There are so many different people, but they all have the same goals, habits and preferences. Even for a short period of time, just a lunch box will make people feel that the world is at peace.

Next is the “context” of eating lunch, the situation and the state of mind. Maybe it’s a bit cramped to hold a bento in one hand and chopsticks in the other, but it’s also a ritual, process and time to spend time with yourself.

Of course you can eat something else too. But you still have to eat a railway bento on the railway, so that the situation and state of mind are aligned. I quite like watching people eating bento at the station. Most people ate with great concentration. It’s really about being offline for a while and coming back to spend time with yourself.

If we ignore the atmosphere and just look at the bento itself, from the perspective of nutrition and deliciousness, I have to tell the truth after eating countless railway bento boxes: Taiwan Railway bento boxes are indeed a bit stagnant.

I ate the bento boxes from both companies together. Until 2017, the high-speed rail bento boxes were not as good as the Taiwan Railway bent boxes. But the HSR Bento, produced by Kaohsiung Sky Kitchen since 2017, is the most successful version ever. Some of the initial minor issues were later corrected. It’s getting better and better, and it’s really starting to surpass Taiwan Railway Bento in all aspects. And each one is still only one hundred yuan.

But I don’t think the 80-yuan Taiwan Railway Bento needs a major update either. I like how plain and understated it is.

The best among the Taiwan Railway bento boxes, my favorite, and one that I think the high-speed railway bento boxes cannot match, is the Yilan-style bento box made by Qi Du Dining Room. It used to be only one hundred yuan, but now it costs one hundred and twenty yuan. But it’s worth the price. It’s just not really easy to buy.

If you are at Taipei Main Station, the bento sales point of Qidu Dining Room is at the Taiwan Railway Dream Factory in the West Sanmen (the Taiwan Railway Bento Shop next to the Taiwan Railway Dream Factory sells bento boxes made by the Taipei Railway Restaurant; on both sides are the Taiwan Railway Dream Factory Bento, just the restaurant making it is different).

However, Yilan-style bento is not easily available in quantity and is very popular. I often complain to my friends: Every time I go back to Beijing Railway Station, I go to see it. I can only buy it once a hundred times. A friend said that it is easier to buy at Songshan Station. If you are interested, you can try it.

Further reading