Taiwan Food Carousel: An Interactive Display Tool for Showcasing Taiwanese Cuisine

A new interactive tool called ‘Taiwan Food Carousel’ (Taiwan美食轉轉樂) offers an engaging way to display Taiwanese cuisine through a combination of image slideshow and randomized food selection features. This Chinese-style application provides an intuitive interface ideal for activities, exhibitions, and food promotions.

The developer created this tool to showcase Taiwan’s diverse culinary delights in a simple yet entertaining format. By incorporating a prize-drawing animation feature, the application transforms a standard image display into an interactive experience that captivates users’ attention.

Key Features

The application includes two primary functions:

• An image carousel that automatically loads all pictures from a data folder, supporting common image formats. Users can manually navigate through images or set them to play automatically.
• A prize-drawing feature that, when activated, runs an animation similar to a spinning wheel, eventually stopping to display the name of a randomly selected Taiwanese dish.

Technical Implementation

Built using Python’s Tkinter package for the graphical user interface, the application utilizes PIL (Python Imaging Library) to load and resize images. The spinning animation effect is created through an after-function that updates the display at intervals, gradually increasing the time between updates to simulate a slowing wheel before revealing the selected food item.

User Interface

The interface displays the current image and food name prominently at the top of the screen. Below, users find navigation buttons for moving left or right through the slides, playing a slideshow, or initiating the random food selection process. When a food item is selected through the drawing feature, its name appears in large text, creating an exciting reveal moment.

Data Preparation

Setting up the application is straightforward—users simply need to place images in the data folder with filenames matching the food items they represent (for example, “beef_noodle.jpg” or “lurou_fan.jpeg”). The system automatically reads these files and uses the names as descriptions displayed on screen, eliminating the need for manual input.

This simple yet entertaining tool combines image display with interactive features in a user-friendly package. Whether used for exhibitions, educational purposes, or simply exploring Taiwanese cuisine, the Taiwan Food Carousel offers an engaging way to showcase food images with an element of surprise and delight.