Houston Community News >> New Year Rush Hits New Peak

2/4/2008 TAIPEI, Taiwan (China Post) -- The persisting low temperatures island wide have prompted a rush on "hot pot" ingredients -- a traditional dish from mainland China -- as well as other Lunar New Year items on the final weekend before the holiday break begins on Feb. 6.

Although resellers at traditional Chinese New Year food markets have been complaining about business in recent days, attendance at vegetable and meat markets, on the contrary, has been soaring.

Taipei residents went on a buying spree over the weekend for ingredients such as cabbage, radish, "tienbula," fish and meat balls -- hot pot's main ingredients, as the mercury dropped island wide in recent days due to the successive arrival of cold snaps from China.

Hot pot or "huoguo" is a traditional meal from northern China, in which ingredients, such as vegetables and other assortments of meat and fish are cooked in a single pot of water. The dish is equally popular during the long winter season in Korea and Japan, where it also comes in a spicier version.

Farmers made the most of the opportunity as the rush has caused a slight increase in the price of vegetables. Last December, the same farmers held protests in Taipei City as the prices were at their lowest levels in months. Cauliflower sold NT$53 per kilogram that morning in Taipei City, while mushrooms were reported three times more expensive than in January 2007.

A client, surnamed Chen, noted that the price of mushrooms has reached nearly NT$550 per kilogram.

Dried shrimp, on the other hand, sold at between NT$180 and NT$380 per 500 grams, added Chen, who stressed that it is also NT$30 more than last year.

He said fishing products in general are 20 to 30 percent more expensive than last year.

A fish monger, surnamed Lin, confirmed that information and added that pawns are now sold NT$500 per kilogram and crab up to NT$1,000 per kilogram.

Meanwhile, the cold weather has also had a relative impact Saturday on the flower market located on Jianguo South Road, mainly inducing price cuts, which was reported by the local Taiwan media that afternoon.

While the continuous rain discouraged onlookers from taking strolls at first, by Saturday afternoon, Taipei residents had begun to go out en masse to buy orchids, lilies, narcissuses and chrysanthemums.

Even though the mercury dropped again on Sunday morning due to a cold front from China -- the Central Weather Bureau recorded temperatures as low as 8.6 degrees in Tamshui -- the public was at the rendezvous that morning to prepare for the upcoming Chinese New Year and the annual "spring-cleaning."

They were agreeably surprised! On-lookers said the prices were nearly 10 percent lower than last year. A pot of chrysanthemums cost, for example, NT$200, down from NT$220 a year ago.

(Contributed by China Post)