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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

ObaMa Cakes in Taitung, Taiwan

In an earlier post I commented on the signs about Falun Dafa in Taitung, Taiwan.  I saw something else of note in Taitung that allows me to continue the recent food theme here.

In Taiwan I haven't seen anything similar to BlackBerry's use of Barack Obama's image in Southwest China, but I did see this:

ObaMa cake store

I stumbled upon the ObaMa Cake store as I was riding a bicycle around the city.  While the name may seem strikingly familiar, I should point out that the Chinese version of ObaMa's name, 欧巴螞,  is different from the Chinese version of Barack Obama's name in Taiwan, 歐巴馬.  They are pronounced exactly the same, though (interesting-to-me side note: Mainland China's version of Barack Obama's name, 奥巴马, has a first character that differs in both its written form and pronunciation from the first character in Taiwan's version).

Especially since I was a bit hungry, I decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the store.

This sign near the entrance highlighted two of their showcase items:

sign with images of a black layered cake and a white cake roll

Inside the store there was a number of customers purchasing various items:

inside of ObaMa Cake store

Notice the elegant chandelier and the ant logo.  According to an article (in Chinese) on TTNews the store is trying to create a minimalist and elegant environment with its decor and the ant logo represents diligence and sincerity.

They had an extensive selection of baked goods.  The items in this section mostly had meat, vegetables, and/or cheese included:

selection of Obama Cake baked goods

They also had many sweeter items and I found something that appealed to me because it had black sesame:


Later, I discovered that ObaMa Cake is clearly concerned about their web presence.  ObaMa has its own web site at http://www.obamacake.com.tw where if you really want to show your support you're guided towards the ObaMa fan page on Facebook.  They also have a number of videos on YouTube, such as this one which begins at almost the exact same location from where I first noticed ObaMa Cake:


More English friendly information can be found on the Taitung County Government web site.  It shares some important facts such as:
Obama has broken the customary taste and stiffness of traditional bread since opening its first store in Taitung in 2010.
And enthusiastically adds:
When one tastes our products that fulfill hunger, one may get a sense of our attentiveness!
I can attest that the item I bought certainly fulfilled my hunger (it was rather large) and was very good.  In fact, I'm disappointed that I won't be able to visit the ObaMa Cake store again because it appears that's the only one.

So, if you're ever in Taitung I recommend checking it out after you've had a chance to sample some more traditional Taiwanese delicacies.

Where else would you have a chance to eat food cooked by ObaMa?

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