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Taiwan’s Rice-food Culture

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Taiwan’s Noodle Culture

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Taiwan’s Tea Culture

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Diversified Culinary Culture

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Night-market Snacks

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Special Local Delicacies

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Food Safety Certification and Labeling

The unique characteristics of Taiwanese cuisine are closely related to the ethnic diversity. Southern Fujianese dishes, flavors from all the other regions of China, Hakka delicacies, and the special dishes of indigenous tribes are mixed and adapted in the island’s kitchens, with yet more variety added by the infusion of foreign culinary traditions. Taiwan has everything from exquisite palace dishes and fine foreign foods to innovative local creations. The constantly simmering and metamorphosing culinary melting pot has brewed and stewed up the irresistible, mouth-watering delights.

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Taiwan’s Rice-food CultureRice is one of the staples of any meal in Taiwan. Over the years the island has moved toward a culture of rice foods with varietal improvement producing high-quality types of rice with varying textures and aromas. The organic cultivation and traceability systems introduced in recent years have added to the safety and value of rice foods in Taiwan.

In addition to using traditional cooking methods, most people will add local ingredients to their culinary creations, bringing an alternative interpretation to rice foods. Besides the delicious rice with marinated mincemeat or shredded chicken, fried rice, rice with creamy toppings, rice noodles, and rice vermicelli, today’s cooks also take advantage of the characteristics of rice varieties to concoct snacks such as turnip cakes, glutinous rice mochi, bamboo leaf-wrapped tamale zongzi, and New Year’s cakes.

These rice snacks are used as sacrificial items every time a festival rolls around, allowing the God to enjoy them along with all men. In Taiwan, rice is more than just food; it is a deeply rooted culture.

Taiwan’s Noodle CultureMost of the restaurants have noodle dishes on their menus, and some of those dishes, like danzai (carrying-pole) noodles and beef noodles, have developed unique Taiwanese characteristics. Most characteristics, perhaps, of the old-time flavors (and friendly atmosphere) of Taiwan are the Du Xiao Yue Danzai Noodles (度小月担仔麵), where customers sit on low chairs around low tables, eating noodles in small bowls and chatting with the proprietor. Beef noodles are an original Taiwanese popular food, and through the compitition for Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival in recent years, it has created a new dining fashion that binds culinary culture together with life.

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Taiwan’s Tea CultureTaiwan has long been known for its production of fine teas with a large range of varieties. These teas are especially notable for the richness of aroma and sweetness. They are divided into four major categories: Dongding Wulong (凍頂烏龍), Wenshan Baozhong (文山包種), Tie Guanyin (鐵觀音), and White-tipped Wulong (白毫烏龍), also known as Oriental Beauty). Taiwan also produces a relatively small amount of Assam tea.

In the lives of Taiwanese people, drinking tea is both common and special; it can be served as a daily drink, or it can also be the beverage chosen to treat special guests. This has led to the development of a unique feature of the island’s culinary culture: tea houses. The Maokong (貓空) area in Taipei has grown tea since the old days, and today it is a popular destination for practicing tea arts and observing night views of the city. Besides the traditional types of tea, unique tea drinks have also been developed, among which, the pearl milk tea is most popular even with foreign customers.

With the trend toward healthy living, Taiwan’s tea has diversified beyond a beverage into a diverse range of products. This gives tea lovers more options; tea leaves are now used, for example, in the making of various kinds of snacks, pastries, and cakes, all with innovative tastes that will leave an unforgettable flavor. The tea-boiled egg with strong aroma is one of the most popular tea-related products in Taiwan.

For a full understanding of the tea culture, you can visit the Tea Museum at Pinglin in Taipei County. The museum exhibits all the facts about tea, its history and art—ingredients, tea-plant varieties, categories of tea leaves, tea production and marketing, distribution of tea farms in Taiwan, tea-processing tools of the Tang and Song dynasties, tea processing down the ages, and modern tea-production processes. The museum also has a multimedia room, a tea house, an outdoor tea-tasting area, and a tea promotion area.

▼ Pinglin Tea Museum: http://www.pinglin.tpc.gov.tw/tea.asp Hours: Mon. to Fri.: 9:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m.; weekends and holidays, 9:00 a.m.—6:00 p.m.

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Diversified Culinary CultureTaiwan is a great melting pot of Chinese and foreign cuisines, which are served in an awesome variety of restaurants all over the island.

Taiwanese culinary culture embraces all of the traditions of China—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan, southern Fujian, and the rest—and makes refinements so that the Taiwan version is often better. Taiwanese food emphasizes the natural features of the ingredients and adds soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, fermented black beans, sweet basil, green onions, coriander, and other spices to produce its characteristic colors, aromas, and flavors. The surrounding seas have made seafood another major feature of the island’s food. The Hakka people have developed their own flavors with a strong emphasis on saltiness, fatness, and aroma. The indigenous peoples cook ingredients they find locally into dishes outstanding in natural freshness that they accompany with a sweet wine made of millet. With the infusion of the foods of new residents from Southeast Asia, plus the establishment of foreign cuisines (including those of Japan, America, Italy, France, Korea, and India, among others). Taiwan has foods that can satisfy any taste.

▼ Taiwan Tourism Information Website: http://taiwan.net.tw

Night-market SnacksInexpensive Native Flavors—Night-market SnacksTaiwan’s night markets, which embody a very special kind of dining culture, form near the busiest markets and temples in all towns. Enter a brightly lighted night market and you will see closely packed vendors’ stalls and a bustle of human activity, with all kinds of products vying for your attention and palate: mouth-watering oyster omelet, milkfish belly stew, fried rice vermicelli, “little cake wrapped in big cake,” pork knuckles, oyster noodles, and an endless variety of other snacks. Dining at a night market is convenient, fast, and cheap. The experience at the night markets, that become more colorful as the hours grow late into night, will definitely enrich your journey in Taiwan. Raohe Street Night Market

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Seven Popular Night Markets in Northern Taiwan

Authentic flavors of Taiwan—Give them a try!

Oyster noodles Oyster omelet Meatballs

Zongzi dumplings Steamed dumplings Steamed sandwich

Fried rice vermicelli Stinky bean curd Mango ice

Photo by Tourism Bureau/Hsin Tung Yang

Night Market Special Features Location

MiaokouNight Market

(基隆夜市)

The snacks available in the Miaok-ou Night Market are known far and wide, among them pot-side noodle soup, frothy ice, tempura, nutritious sandwiches, and bean-sprout stew.

Near Dianji Temple, on Ren 3rd Road and Ai 4th Road in Keelung.

ShilinNight Market

(士林夜市)

This night market offers a wide selection of snacks from all over Taiwan, and is a favorite among tourists.

Between Dadong Road and Anping Road in the Shilin District of Taipei.

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Night Market Special Features Location

Fengjia Night

Market

(逢甲夜市)

The streets around Feng Chia University form a city that never sleeps, and the night market is known for “cheap prices and everything under the sun.” All kinds of snacks, clothing, and accessories are on offer.

Fuxing Road, Feng Chia Road, and Wenhua Road, between Xitun Road, Sec. 2 and Xian St. in Taichung.

Lugang Snacks

(鹿港夜市)

The snacks here include all kinds of seafood such as crabs, eel, oysters, shrimp, mudskipper fish, and clams. Also on offer are tea snacks like “phoenix cake” and “ox tongue” cakes, with the products of the Yu Zhen Zhai Cake Shop being famous throughout Taiwan.

Lugang, Changhua County.

Night Markets in Central, Southern, and Eastern Taiwan

Night Market Special Features Location

Raohe StreetNight Market

(饒河街夜市)

Taipei’s first tourist night market, this one stretches 600 meters and has numerous vendors offering medicinal stewed spareribs. A good place for a healthy diet.

Intersection of Bade Road, Sec. 4 and Fuyuan Street to Ciyou Temple on Bade Road in Taipei.

Huaxi Street Night Market

(華西街夜市)

Taipei’s most famous night market, with popular snacks like seafood.

Huaxi Street in Taipei, between Xiyuan Road and Huanhe South Road.

Jingmei Night Market

(景美夜市)

This night market has over 30 years of history and hundreds of stalls. It is the most popular street market in southern Taipei.

Jingmei Street, Taipei.

Tonghua Street

Night Market

(通化街夜市)

This cross-shaped market is located along two intersecting streets, with dining on one side and general goods on the other. A fine place for shopping as well as snacking.

Tonghua Street, between Xinyi Rd., Sec. 4 and Keelung Road, Sec. 2 in Taipei.

Lioaning Night Market

(遼寧夜市)

Among the famous snacks here are goose meat, seafood, glutinous rice cake in bamboo tubes, shwarma, oyster omelet, and marinated stew.

Liaoning Street in Taipei, between Chang-an East Road and Chung Hsin High School.

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Special Local Delicacies Taiwan may be relatively small, but being surrounded by sea and having a subtropical climate, it has an abundance of produce and, with the mixture of Indigenous people, Hakka, and people from all the provinces of China, it presents a rich tapestry of local cultures. As a result of unique folk customs and dining habits, each town and village has developed its own local delicacies that have become famous throughout Taiwan and overseas as well. All kinds of tea snacks, cakes and cookies are still made by the traditional methods, or have been given innovative and challenging flavors that are perfect for a taste on the spot and for taking home as gifts to share with relatives and friends.

Xiaobei Night

Market

(小北夜市)

Each vendor is numbered in this clean and neat night market, which offers a huge variety of snacks including seafood, coffin sandwiches, pot-side noodle soup, and eel.

Intersection of Ximen Road and Linan Road in Tainan.

Liuhe Night

Market

(六合夜市)

Food and Drinks produced in the mountain and from the sea, including special products from different localities, and snacks are available here in endless variety. Specialties include papaya milk and salt-steamed shrimp.

Liuhe Road in Kaohsiung.

LuodongNight

Market

(羅東夜市)

The authentic snacks sold here include salty rice noodles, smoked duck, pork stew, shrimp and chicken leg, bean curd rolls, rice vermicelli stew, seafood, pork intestines, sausage wrapped in oily bean curd and oyster omelet.

Around the town center and Zhongshan Park in Luodong, Yilan County.

Nanbin Night

Market

(南濱夜市)

In this night market, Hualien’s largest, you can try stir-fried fresh seafood and special snacks as you watch the sun sets slowly behind the mountains to the west.

Nanbin Park in Hual-ien.

Taro pastries Taiwan love cakes Pineapple pastries Pork jerky

Photo by Shan Mai Food/Hsin Tung Yang (both are the winner of 2009 English Services Emblem).

▼ Taiwan Tourist Information website: http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/

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Food Safety Certification and LabelingTo assure food safety, the Taiwanese government has followed international standards in establishing the CAS (Certified Agricultural Standards) label for outstanding agricultural products and the Taiwan Food GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) label. These two labels on agricultural products and processed food products signify that the quality of the products has passed government certification. The Department of Health has been helping the catering industry to promote the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system so that the control of food manufacturing processes can be strengthened, thereby upgrading the sanitation and quality of food and beverage products.

Taiwan’s Commodity Labeling Act requires products to bear labels and stating the product name, producer, name of manufacturer or importer, telephone number and address, place of origin, main ingredients or materials, manufacturing date, expiration date, and other essential information that consumers can use as a reference when choosing their purchases; for rules on product labeling, please refer to the chapter on Shopping.

Protect the world—Bring your own eating utensils As Taiwan promotes waste reduction, energy conservation, and carbon reduction, the government also encourages its people to take their own dining utensils when eating out. In the swelling tide of environmental protection, we show our love for the Earth by protecting the environment at all times!

▼ Food Safety Information website: http://food.doh.gov.tw/english/english.asp

▼ Taiwan Premium Agricultural Products Development Institute: http://www.cas.org.tw/en/

▼ Taiwan Food Good Manufacturing Practice Development Association: http://www.gmp.org.tw/