No doubt about it, there's a lot to love about Taiwanese food, and a lot of it to love. And crickey, do the Taiwanese love food. Taiwa...
No doubt about it, there's a lot to love about Taiwanese food, and a lot of it to love. And crickey, do the Taiwanese love food. Taiwanese people tend to eat out often, and are hardly known as sombre diners. Looking for a good restaurant? Just follow the noise. But some of the best food is not found in restaurants but on the street, and gourmands know that some of Asia's best street eats are found in night markets in and around Taiwan's cities.
But first things first....
STAPLES
Rice
Rice is an inseparable part of virtually every Taiwanese meal; as in China, the phrase used to ask someone if they've eaten is to say 'you eat rice yet?' Rice comes in many forms - as a porridge (congee) served with plates of pickled vegetables at breakfast, fried with tiny shrimps, pork or vegetables and eaten at lunch or as a snack. Plain steamed white rice accompanies most restaurant meals, except formal banquets, where you'll often need to ask for it. While plain white rice is still the norm, many restaurants - especially vegetarian buffets, as well as more health-oriented eateries, offer a choice between white and quán mài (whole-grain rice).
Noodles
Noodles are thought to have originated in northern China during the Han dynasty (206-220 BC) when the Chinese developed techniques for large scale flour grinding.
Taiwan has several types of noodles which are worth mentioning. Lã miàn (hand-pulled noodles) is created when the noodle puller repeatedly stretches a piece of wheat-flour dough, folding it over and stretching again, until a network of noodle strands materialise. Thin, translucent noodles made from rice flour are common in the city's Southeast Asian restaurants. And of course, for the carnivore no visit to Taiwan would be complete without trying the wares of at least a few beef noodle restaurants; the best of these places shave each noodle individually from a cinder block-sized lump of dough before tossing them into the pot of beef stock.
REGIONAL CUISINES IN TAIWAN
Taiwanese cuisine can be divided into several styles of cooking, though the boundaries are often blurred. You'd be hard pressed to find some of Taiwan's more emblematic dishes (stinky tofu, for example) any where in China outside of restaurants specialising in Taiwanese cuisine, though you'll find much food of close comparison in Fujian province. Straddling both sides of the straits, Hakka food is distinct enough to warrant its own category, though Hakka cuisine you'll find on Taiwan will be more seafood heavy than what you'd find in China's inland regions. And of course, anything you'd find on the Mainland - Cantonese, Sichuanese, Beijing, Shanghaiese and so forth - you'll find in Taiwan. See the Menu Decoder for pinyin and Chinese spellings of dishes described in the following sections.
Taiwanese
As our recipe at the head of the chapter shows, Taiwanese cooking has a long, storied and complex history, with influences ranging form all over China mixed with a rather unique aboriginal/ Poynesian base. In general, food that you'll see people enjoying at roadside markets and restaurants tends to emphasise local recipes and ingredients (though often curious about things foreign, most Taiwanese tend to buy local when it comes to their food). Seafood, sweet potatoes, taro root and green vegetables cooked very simply are at the heart of most Taiwanese meals. Chicken rates seconds in popularity to seafood, followed by pork, beef and lamb. Xiãoyú huàshèng (fish stir-friend with peanuts and pickled vegetables) is an example of a Taiwanese favourite. Oysters is popular, and clear oyster soup with ginger is an excellent hangover cure and overall stomach soother. Something completely unique to Taiwan is its use of a local variant of basil, which frequently flavours soups and fish dishes. The Taiwanese like to cook with chilli, though dishes are never as mouth searing as those in Sichuanese cuisine.
Hakka
Hakka cuisine is having a renaissance in Taiwan, with Hakka-style dishes being featured in restaurants across the country. The dishes of the Hakka are very rich and hearty, suitable for people who historically made their living as farmers and needed plenty of energy to work the fields. Dishes are often salty and vinegary, with strong flavours. Pork is a favourite of the Hakka, often used in dishes cut up into large pieces, fried and then stewed in a marinade.
Hakka cuisine is also know for its tasty snacks. Some of these include fried salty flour balls made from mushrooms, shrimp and pork turnip cakes and sticky rice dipped in sugar or peanut powder.
Fujianese
Much of Taiwanese cuisine has Fujianese roots, as the earliest wave of Han Chinese immigration to the island comprised primarily Fujian mainlanders who immigrated in the 18th and 20th centuries. Fujianese cuisine particularly abounds on the Taiwan Strait islands of Matsu and Kinmen (bot of which are a stone's throw away from Fujian province), but you'll find Fujianese cuisine all over Taiwan. Really, most people won't call it Fujianese cuisine, as so much of it basic elements have been incorporated in Taiwanese cooking. Cuisine in Fujian is best known for its seafood, often cooked in red wine and simmered slowly in dark soy sauce, sugar, and spices. One of the most popular dishes in the Fujianese food canon is fó tiào qiáng, 'Buddha Jumps Over the Wall', a stew of seafood, chicken, duck and pork simmered in a jar of rice wine. The dish got its name because it is believed that the small is so delicious Buddha would climb a wall for a taste, ironic considering the fact that the Buddha is generally thought to have been a vegetarian.
On that subject, Fujian is where Chinese vegetarian cuisine reached its apex, partly thanks to the availability of fresh ingredients and partly because of the specialisation of generations of chefs. The Taiwanese, however, have taken vegatarian cuisine to heights that easily rival that of India, a fact worthy of a heading all its own (opposite).
Cantonese
This is what non-Chinese consider 'Chinese' food, largely because most émigré restaurateurs originate from Guangdong (Canton) or Hong Kong. Cantonese flavours are generally more subtle than other Chinese styles almost sweet, with very few spicy dishes. Sweet-and-sour and oyster sauces are common. The Cantonese are almost religious about the importance of fresh ingredients, which is why so many restaurants are lined with tanks full of finned and shell-clad creatures.
Cantonese dim sum snacks are famous and can be found in restaurants around Taiwan's bigger cities. Apart from barbecued pork dumpling, you'll find spring rolls, flat rice noodles, rice porridge and, of course, chickens' feet - an acquired taste.
Sichuanese
Sichuan food is known as the hottest of all Chinese cuisines, so take care when ordering. Lethal red chillies (introduced by Spanish trader in the early Qing dynasty), aniseed, peppercorns and pungent 'flower pepper' are used, and dishes are simmered to give the chilli peppers time to work into the food. Meats are often marinated, pickled or otherwise processed before cooking, which is generally by stir-frying.
Famous dishes include camphor tea duck, Granny Ma's tofu, spiced mincemeat sauce and tofu and spicy chicken with peanuts). Sichuan is an inland province, so pork, chicken and beef - not seafood - are the staples.
Other Chinese Cuisine
In the north of mainland China, wheat or millet, rather than rice, is traditional. Its most common incarnations are steamed dumplings and noodles, while arguably the most famous Chinese dish of all, Peking duck, is also served in Taiwan with typical northern ingredients: wheat pancakes, spring onions and fermented bean paste. Shanghainese cuisine is popular, especially in Taipei. Expect dishes to be generally sweeter and oilier than China's other cuisines, and to feature a lot of fish and seafood, especially cod, river eel and shrimp. The word for fish, is a homonym for 'plenty' or 'surplus'; fish is a mandatory dish for most banquets and celebrations.
Common Shanghainese fish dishes include fish with corn and pine nuts, Songjiang perch, pomfret and yellow croaker. Fish is usually steamed but can be stir-fried, pan-fried or frilled. Shanghai-style steamed fish, cooked lightly and covered with ginger or spring onions is a mainstay at any banquet.
VEGETARIAN CUSIINE
Vegetarian visitors to Taiwan may well consider applying for citizenship once they've experienced the joys of Taiwanese vegetarian cuisine. Taiwan's Buddhist roots run deep, and while only a small (but still sizable) percentage of Taiwanese are vegetarian, a fair chunk of the population abstains from meat for spiritual or health reasons every now and again, even if only for a day or a week.
Buddhist vegetarian restaurants are easy to find. Just look for the gigantic savastika (an ancient Buddhist symbol that looks like a reverse swastika) hung in front of the restaurant. If the restaurant has a cassette or CD playing a soothing loop of ami tofo (Buddhist chant) and a few robed monks and nuns mixed among the lay patrons, you're in business. Food at these places tends to not merely be 100% vegan friendly (no animal products of any kind), but also garlic and hot-pepper free (fiery belching being disruptive to meditation). Every neighbourhood and town will generally have at least one vegetarian buffet; some are a bit on the plain side, others are places of unparallel food artistry. Taipei has a number of vegetarian buffets that keep us coming back. Buffets are especially cool because there's no language barrier to deal with. Take what looks and smells the best, pay by weight, and enjoy.
The Taiwanese are masters at adding variety to vegetarian cooking and creating 'mock meat' dishes made of tofu or gluten on which veritable miracles have been performed. Some of our vegetarian friends shy away from some of the dishes at Taiwanese vegetarian restaurants because, in look and texture, they're just 'too meat-like for comfort'.
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