Apple bread

Apple bread is a popular vegetarian snack in Taiwan, often eaten at breakfast or as a light snack and sold in school canteens, grocery and convenience stores and supermarkets across the island. Despite the name it was not originally made with apples: the dough is enriched with wheat germ and eggs, and the name reflects how rare and valuable apples were in Taiwan in the 1960s and the popularity of Apple Sidra advertisements at the time. Later versions added an apple filling. The recipe was created by Liu Zheji, a Shandong-born former major in the Republic of China Army who moved to Taiwan in 1949 with the Kuomintang and retired in 1959. Following a suggestion from the Canadian missionary Liu Dongkun he developed the bread, which was inspired by United States military rations, and began selling it to American military personnel stationed in Taiwan. It is now regarded as a classic Taiwanese bread with nostalgic value for many people.