What’s in a name? In that case, a free meal.
Some customers in Taiwan got some sushi for free this week by officially changing their names, but the spate of renaming requests has prompted a local officer to beg people to stop.
Earlier this week, sushi chain Akindo Sushiro started what the local media subsequently dubbed “salmon chaos” after offering free food on Wednesday and Thursday to entire customer tables called Gui Yu, or “Salmon” , reported the Taipei Times. Customers with aquatic names can also get discounts of up to 50%.
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Dozens of people received free meals on the first day of the promotion and more than 1,000 received discounts, according to the report. To win the toast, some 150 “mostly young people” officially changed their names in government offices, the AFP news agency reported.
This led to customers with translated names like “Salmon Prince”, “Meteor Salmon King” and “Salmon Fried Rice” appearing to claim free food, according to the report. A gourmand in search of gifts even set a record for the longest name in the country: “Chen Loves Taiwan, Abalone, Tuna, Salmon, Snow Crab, Sea Urchin, Scallop, Lobster and Meat, Mayfull, Palais de Chine, Regent, Hilton, Caesar Park, Hotel Royal. “
A college student said he and his friends ate the equivalent of more than $ 235 in sushi after he changed his name to “good looking explosive salmon,” according to local reports.
A sushi chain offered free meals to people called “Salmon” this week, leading to a wave of official name changes. (iStock)
Another student who changed his name and his friends ate about $ 460 in sushi.
“I don’t think we’re going to want to eat salmon again for a while,” they wrote online, according to the Times.
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Taiwanese authorities were less amused by the food frenzy as people rushed to change their names. Although the country allows people to change their names up to three times, Deputy Interior Minister Chen Tsung-yen said the changes to free food were wasting time and causing unnecessary paperwork, according to AFP.
“I hope everyone is more rational about this,” Tsung-yen told reporters.
Guests with new names told reporters that they planned to change their names back after the free meal. The registration fee for a name change and a new ID card is equivalent to less than $ 3.
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But a man even said online that he learned about the “three times” rule the hard way after his mother told him that she had already changed her name twice as a child, according to the Taipei Times.
In an online post, Taiwanese authorities urged residents to “be careful in taking good care of your name”.