Potato Salad Taiwanese-Style

Last week, I shared with you my childhood favorite of ketchup fried rice. Today, I want to tell you about Taiwanese-style potato salad–a dish that no doubt came from the West, but has a distinctly different flavor when filtered through the cultural lens of Taiwan. Mayonnaise in Taiwan is sweeter and milder than in the West, and the potato salad has that specific flavor to it; ham is a must, as is egg, and carrot. Since I make my own mayo, I simply add a little more sugar to it and use a very neutral oil. There is a lot of mayo (something I don’t personally proscribe to, but there you go).

This particular side dish will be found in cafes that are “western style” with sandwiches (also uniquely filtered through the Taiwanese lens, with their very thin nature and very white, square bread). Since I was making the fried rice, which also has carrot and ham, I thought it would be fun to whip up some potato salad too.

I share this with you because it’s interesting to see familiar western food through a different cultural experience. More importantly, it also goes to show you that food culture is malleable and constantly being affected by the people who embrace it. I like to think that by experimenting and sharing recipes online, we all take part in that flux of change.