Retro Taiwan lunch boxes milk nostalgia for slow train journeys
Meals of meat, pickles and rice once a staple of rail travel are a comfort-food choice for fans today – even if they’re not travelling, they can buy one when passing a train station or at a convenience store
Once served as no-frills sustenance for train passengers in Taiwan, simple rice lunch boxes are selling in their millions across the island, a food trend fuelled by nostalgia.
Known as railway biandang, which means “convenience” in Chinese, the meals have changed little over the decades.
Traditionally a pragmatic combination of braised or fried meat and pickles piled onto steamed white rice – ingredients designed to endure long train journeys – they are now seen as an enduring symbol of the “good old days”, when rail travel trumped planes and cars.
While they used to be the preserve of passengers looking for a low-cost meal, now fans are picking them up as comfort food, whether they are taking a journey or not.
“It reminds me of when I was little, when I would take the train to Yilan with my family,” says a 42-year-old woman buying boxes of classic pork chop rice from a shop at a Taipei station to take home.