Food & Drink

Culinary styles in Taiwan come from all over China, including Canton, Peking, Szechuan and Shanghai.

As with many Chinese cuisines, pork, rice, soy are very common ingredients. Beef is far less common, and some Taiwanese (particularly the elderly generation) still refrain from eating it. Taiwan's cuisine has also been influenced by its geographic location, and seafood figures prominently in their cuisine. This seafood encompasses many different things, from large fish such as tuna and grouper, to sardines and even smaller fish such as anchovies. Crustaceans, squid, and cuttlefish are also eaten.

Taiwanese cuisine relies on an abundant array of seasonings for flavour: Soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, Black beans, pickled radishes, peanuts, chilli peppers, parsley, and a local variety of basil ('nine story tower'). The resulting dishes thus combine and form interesting tastes which make Taiwanese cuisine simple in format yet complex in experience.

Typical Dishes

• Jiu-hi ken: thickened soup with cuttlefish wrapped in fish paste.
• Lo-bah-png: minced, cubed, or ground fatty pork, stewed in soy sauce and spices, then served on rice.
• O-a-chian: oyster omelette made with eggs, oysters and Garland chrysanthemum leaves. It has a soft, sticky texture, and is eaten with a sweet and mildly spicy sauce, topped with coriander. This dish is very common in night markets.
• O-a mi-soan: oyster vermicelli, a thickened soup containing small oysters and Chinese vermicelli.
• O bi-ko: a dish made from pork blood and rice. It is usually cut into a rectangular piece and served on a stick, topped with peanut paste, hot sauce and coriander.
• San bei ji: a chicken dish which literally translates as 'three cups chicken', named because the sauce is made of a cup of rice wine, a cup of sesame oil, and a cup of soy sauce. Alternately, the sauce can also be made of a cup each of rice wine, sugar, and soy sauce.
• Toa-tng pau sio-tng: small sausage in large sausage.

Night Market Dishes

Taiwan's best-known snacks are present in the night markets, where street vendors sell a variety of different foods, from finger foods, drinks, sweets, to sit-down dishes. In these markets, one can also find fried and steamed meat-filled buns, oyster-filled omelettes, refreshing fruit ices, and much more.

• Ba wan: a sticky gelatinous dough filled with pork, bamboo shoots, shiitake, and served with a savoury sweet sauce
• Candied crab apples: red sugar coated bite-sized fruits served on a stick. Sometimes the crab apples are stuffed with preserved plums, and then candied.
• Fried chicken pieces: small chunks of chicken sprinkled with peppers and basil flavour.
• Fried glutinous rice balls: slightly sweet in flavour.
• Fruit or bean smoothies: milk or ice is blended on the spot with fresh papaya, mango, watermelon, red bean, or green bean.
• Shaved ice: popular dessert consisting of shaved ice and a variety of toppings to choose from: red beans, green beans, pineapple, condensed milk, grass jelly, lychees, peanuts, rice balls, and so on.
• Shawarma: a sandwich usually made from spiced, grilled chicken and served on a leavened, white flour bun with julienned cabbage, a slice of tomato, sliced onions, ketchup, and mayonnaise.
• Stinky tofu: the aroma of stinky tofu is intimidating at first but can be an acquired taste.
• Taiwanese crepes: crispy flour crepe filled with a variety of choices, such as seafood crepe.
• Taiwanese sausages: fatty pork sausages with a sweet taste. It is served on a stick with many different flavours and condiments of choice. Sometimes, it is wrapped in glutinous rice.
• Tempura - made from starch and minced meats.