For TSMC employees in Phoenix, Taiwan Mama delivering taste of home

Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 7 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s presence in northern Phoenix has helped create a growing Taiwanese lifestyle hub, highlighted by the rise of community businesses such as popular Taiwanese restaurant Taiwan Mama.

Located in an open-air plaza near TSMC's Arizona fabs, Taiwan Mama draws customers with posters of braised pork rice and bubble tea, offering a taste of home to Taiwanese engineers and their families living thousands of kilometers from Taiwan.

Owner Kate, in her 30s and a former computer engineer in Taiwan, moved to Phoenix four years ago with her husband, a TSMC employee.

She began her business as a small cloud kitchen selling lunch boxes, chicken cutlets and gua bao (pork belly buns) before opening a physical restaurant that is now profitable, helped by increasing TSMC-related activity in the area.

The company is already operating one wafer factory there, with the construction of two more ongoing, and pledges of more to come.

Supporting this effort are around 2,000 TSMC engineers and supply-chain workers, many of whom have settled in northern Phoenix with their families, and direct flights between Taipei and Phoenix that just began.

Through this influx of people, neighborhoods are taking on an increasingly Taiwanese character, and more Taiwanese brands are being drawn to the Phoenix area, including bakery, tea and dumpling chains.

As for Taiwan Mama, it is becoming a regular gathering place for expatriates.

The restaurant's popular dishes include braised pork rice, fried chicken bentos and beef noodle soup, with seasonal items such as handmade rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival, ginger duck hot pot in winter and shaved ice during the summer, when temperatures regularly exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

To preserve authentic flavors, Kate imports bubble tea ingredients from Taiwan and sources produce and meat locally, though seafood remains difficult to obtain in landlocked Arizona.

"Things like baby squid and cuttlefish cakes that are common in Taiwan are very hard to find here," Kate said. Special cooking oils, such as pure black sesame oil and bitter tea oil, are also difficult to source, she said.

Not surprisingly, the restaurant's owner found the regulatory hurdles needed to open a business in Arizona daunting, with licenses, regulatory compliance and health inspections taking more than a year to complete.

Now, however, Taiwan Mama now employs more than 10 people, including Taiwanese employees and American kitchen assistants, and operations have stabilized, according to Kate.

Beyond business, Kate uses food as a form of soft diplomacy, running stalls at schools, Double Ten National Day celebrations and international cultural events that draw both Taiwanese and American customers.