上班族必備軟實力

[Richard has been in Taiwan for 16 years and thinks that he has seen it all.]

Every so often in Taiwan, something will suddenly become popular and everyone will want it. It is usually some kind of food like doughnuts, egg tarts, or ramen. Who knows why it happens or what is going to be next. It may be mass hypnosis, a reaction to environmental stress, or some sort of mental manipulation by alien super beings.

Cream-filled desserts, egg custard tarts, ramen, and Mr. Donut are just some of the fads that have swept through Taiwan. To find the latest, you only need look for a long line. It may be caused by mass hypnosis, the waiting in long lines and buying designated valuable things like they were going out of style.

The Mister Donut fad was the biggest fad in Taiwan. Sociologists will be studying this one for years. It was a Japanese doughnut chain that decided to crash the Taiwan market. When the first store opened, the lines were so long that it would take 4 or 5 hours to get a doughnut. I still don’t understand how anybody would want to stay on line that long for anything, much less a doughnut.

None of these things are fads any longer. Now KFC sells the egg tarts. Mr. Donut’s flagship store closed down, but they have more. There are other doughnut companies moving in, too. You can still buy the cream-filled desserts in Gongguan and the ramen fad was very short-lived, but Japanese food is still easy to find.

I don’t see any active fads right now, but we are overdue. I wonder what it will be. Watch this space.