MUNCHIES Presents: Taiwan's Funeral Feasts
In the West, funeral catering is often limited to soggy fruit plates and cold-cut sandwiches. But that's not the case in Taiwan, where classic local delicacies like pork buns, fried chicken, and sashimi are on the menu, and the pallbearers get buzzed on rice-wine-heavy chicken soup. Held in honor of the deceased, these funeral feasts are prepared by traditional "village chefs" who specialize in ban-doh—outdoor banquets for community occasions ranging from weddings, births, and funerals to elections and festivals. Our host Joshua Frank attends the funeral of his friend's grandfather, who insisted before his passing that all guests at his memorial ceremony leave well-fed. Joshua travels to the tiny hamlet where village chef cuisine was born to see how the fading role of the village chef is being passed on between generations, and learns to cook an iconic ban-doh dish with a modern twist at a culinary school revitalizing the classic Taiwanese culinary tradition. Subscribe to Munchies here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-MUNCHIES Check out http://munchies.tv for more! Follow Munchies here: Facebook: http://facebook.com/munchies Twitter: http://twitter.com/munchies Tumblr: http://munchies.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/munchiesvice Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/munchies Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/munchies More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideos
Comments
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More of this host!!
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When a white dude is better at mandarin than you
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More of this please :)
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Not only did I like the host for his calm, charismatic presence, I also really appreciate the reception he got from the natives. I really didn't expect the Taiwanese elders to be so open and warm to Joshua, so it was a bit of a surprise when they were so accommodating.
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Hot dogs anyone ?
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love this episode. im taiwanese, and was only talking to my dad about these town cooks not two days ago. well done vice for teaching us about taiwanese culture. and kudos on the multilingual hosts. his chinese is better than mine haha
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whoa host's Chinese is really fucking good
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What I think is the ultimate irony: In the cities, these feasts for funerals often block whole streets (streets are small in Taiwan, as the city layouts were never meant for large volumes of traffic). Because the streets get blocked, it often takes an ambulance a few extra minutes to get to a house where an old person might be having a heart attack... therefor... another dead person (also caused because Taiwanese people are not good at getting out of the way of ambulances). Tell a Taiwanese person that and the irony will be totally lost on them. In fact, most people here care a lot about their own families, but when it comes to someone not connected to you by blood, the amount of care goes down by an order of magnitude. I have lived here for 11 years and was in love with life here... but now I am planning my escape. Taiwan has constant problems with contaminated food, water, and air. The roads are dangerous, every day there is a story of a gravel truck running over and popping the head off of a baby, mother, grandparent, or just some plain shmuck who happened to be right along side of poorly trained drivers high on betel nut...
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For once the comment section on a Munchies video isn't toxic! That, and the fact that the host is a real down-to-earth, respectable, and knowledgeable individual. His ability to speak mandarin is also impressive, and he's Canadian (like me) so he gets bonus points.
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5:52 Do I have issues if I instantly think of the KKK when I see the funeral wear? Pls don't butcher me with hate.
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Is this the skinny drug guy from Vice? HOLY SHIT, HE GAINED WEIGHT!
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nothin more impressive than a Native English speaker who can speak Cantonese... Go him
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The knife skills put me to shame.....& I went to college for culinary studies.
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wonder if he used rosetta stone...
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Fuck you Tyler Oakley and your annoying ads and annoying ass laugh.
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awesome!
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This is a really traditional style of funeral. And the host is pretty impressive, able to understand mandarin with heavy taiwanese accent. I doubt he understood the "Taiwanese" (a variation of mandarin) portion of it, but at least he was respectful and just listened.
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Most well-off Filipinos also have the same tradition.
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this dude is cool
14m 26sLenght
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