"Chinese medicine soup" is extremely popular here in Taiwan. that's the name for any type of soup that is chock full of various items which are considered to have high medical values.
As you would expect with the name, a large majority of them taste quite bad, but to be honest some of them do taste fine, especially the ones that are made to be sweet. I'm not saying that I'm in love with them, but there are some restaurants I will go where instead of drinking the tea, i will drink their Chinese medicine soup.
Being a foreigner in Taiwan you are going to have chinese medicine soup pushed on you a lot, so the best advice I can give anybody, is to never ask what is in it. Or if you do have to know, only ask after you have eaten it. The reason is probably obvious, a lot of these chinese medicine ingredients are quite scary.
The above soup is not bad at all. it's ingredients are; White Fungus, Jujubes, and Lotus seeds. While it didn't taste bad, anything called "white fungus" made it hard to eat without knowing more about it. so of course i went to the internet to look it up.
Apparently white fungus cures every circulation and repository problem, as well as being good for your skin. Jujubes (basically like the fruit called "date") are said to be antioxidants and anti-inflamitories. While lotus seeds are for soothing your innards.
After trying some, it's time to go out to find my dinner. Then for dessert i will have some more of this chinese medicine soup for dessert. Or you you know, some Frosted Flakes. We'll see which I feel like.
