A Taste of Taipei

If you are living in the city, it’s easy to eat out all the time. There are a huge variety of restaurants and food markets where you can get cheap noodle bowls, breakfast sandwiches and onion pies. In TienMu where there are a lot of foreigners there are a couple of larger grocery stores. But most Taiwanese people get their food from local markets like the Shadong market in ZongShan N Rd, Section 6. These markets aren’t open all day. Some are morning markets that get started about 6am and close up by 11, and there are night markets which don’t get started until 3-5pm and may go past midnight.

Since we live an hour out of town we are always packing heavy backpacks around with us so we can get groceries home. There aren’t any restaurants near our place, and the only store at PingDeng Li isn’t good for much more than beer, chips and eggs. My mom took us to the Shadong Local market which is actually open when we are awake…but I wouldn’t have any idea what to do with most of this stuff. And there are a lot of things that I’m not even sure if they are meat, vegetable or some kind of dessert!

Also, you have to forget about all your preconceived notions about sanitation. Local farmers bring in fresh fruit and vegetables and lay them out on tarps or directly on the pavement. People set their garlic and radishes out to dry in the sun on old window screens or just on the sidewalk. The meat was probably butchered that morning, but it will often lay out in the open air without refrigeration until you buy it. And even in grocery stores, eggs aren’t refrigerated. They just don’t do that. Seafood is easy though. You can tell so easily by the smell if it’s fresh, and surprisingly enough, in the sketchiest looking places, it doesn’t smell at all fishy.

This is a great vegetarian restaurant close to my mom's house. They have curries, stir fry mushrooms, and all kinds of fake bbq pork dishes, wraps and rice dishes. Wish I could find the fake meat stuff in the store to cook with. No gardenburgers here!

This is the Shadong Market. These red pineapples make a great gift!

Some of the stalls at the Shadong Market. Most of the individually wrapped, and boxed fruits are intended for gifting.

Bulk cookies...I think.

Check out the giant crabs!

Um, I have no idea what those are. Sea cucumbers maybe?

Tons of fresh seafood. Abalone, lobster, crabs etc.

Right next to the seafood stall is this small sushi restaurant in the market. It doesn't get much fresher! The place was packed. Must be good.

Again, I have no idea what that is. The stuff around it looked like either baked goods or maybe dried meats.

A chicken butcher.

Yellow cauliflower.

According to Jeremy, most of the hamburgers in this country aren't edible. However this orange chicken burger with french fry patty, from Mos Burger, is amazing!

It's often hard to find just plain lettuce or salad greens here. Here's a variety of leafy greens you can choose from up in WuLai. The fern fronds are great. No idea what the rest is.

Also up in Wulai, giant bags of dried fungi!

Here's an Egg McMuffin from McDonalds. The eggs here have bright orange yokes and are amazingly good despite the fact that they are never refrigerated. Guess they are really fresh!