My name is Matthias, I'm from Germany and  I'm a first-year student in Taiwan.

Have you ever heard of the "pig blood cake"?

The pig blood cake is a very important part  of the Taiwanese food culture,

which unfortunately seems to lose it's popularity,  especially for young people.

If it's the first time that you hear about the pig blood cake

you might feel a bit confused and wonder:

How can somebody come up with that idea to put blood into a cake?

So I always imagined the famous Taiwanese Yuebing

The confusion is simply made by it's name,

because we refer it to a real kind of cake.

The pig blood cake, in fact, is a mix of pig blood and glutinous rice.

It can be boiled, steamed, braised or deep fried.

cut in a rectangle shape and placed on a stick.

Later on, the seller will use a special dip.

It is not easy to find out very much about it's history,

But it is believed, that it first appeared after World War II in Dadaocheng,

which is in the Datong district of Taipei city.

It was a time when the people suffered from poverty.

And these people highly believed that pig blood is very nutritious,

so they went to the slaughterhouses in the early mornings

then the Taiwanese will mostly introduce the food,

The pig blood cake is a good example for this,

because you might think, that it is unusual

to eat something that is made out of pig blood.

And because there are many snacks, different than what you expect,

the Taiwanese will often ask the question

I hope I could make the pig blood cake more interesting for you.

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Pig Blood Cake - Taiwanese Traditional Food