Nom Nom Nom

Taiwan is reknowned for its food, especially its street food (check out this recent article in the Guardian), which is found in copious amounts at the popular night markets across the country. Night markets might sound kinda dodgy, but in super-safe Taiwan, where the majority of the population work long hours and then swing by the night market on their way home for scoffing, shopping and socialising, the atmosphere is more like a fair - festive and lively. They're pretty cool, and the street food is also mostly much safer in terms of hygiene than in other Asian countries, so you can trough away without too much concern about repercussions!

Among the most famous Taiwanese specialities are stinky tofu, pig's blood cake and beef noodle soup, however I avoided all three of these (sorry, I know they sound interesting). The reasons being that I'm pretty sure pig's blood cake is just black pudding, which I find vomitous, and while I tried to persuade myself on the stinky tofu on various occasions I just couldn't do it. I know it's lame, but that shit really does STINK! And the soup? Well, I just don't like noodles. That's right. I'm also not a huge fan of rice. No, I have no idea why I keep going to Asia either.

Instead of these three culinary celebrities, then, I bring you my own more personal and rather random Taiwanese food odyssey:

First up, my best friend the iced mango smoothie. Yeah it might not look so exciting, but trust me when it's 34°C EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN DAY this is heaven right here:

Giant versions found all over the place for just 80p! 

Odd sugary baked goods from the 7-11 also featured prominently during my trip:

Basically two scotch pancakes stuck together with red bean paste. Not something I would ever have thought to do, but workable.

Red bean and milk ice lolly. Disliked at first. Grew on me. Ended in addiction!

Mmmm, I got really into red bean everything!

During my housesit I had easy access to a Wellcome supermarket where they sold these:

You see the letter 'Q' a lot on Chinese sweet stuff, it basically means chewy or gummy. I like mochi (chewy gummy sweet things usually filled with paste) anway, but combined with chocolate cake? OMG.

These babies are just amazing. I need to find a supplier in the UK!

Here we have 'little sausage wrapped in big sausage' (it's catchier in Chinese). Taiwanese sausage is possibly my favourite food discovery of the trip, it's like a cross between British sausage and Spanish sausage, but more sweet than spicy. The big sausage is composed of glutinous rice and is nicer than it sounds! I got so good at ordering these the sellers would think I could actually speak Chinese properly and start chatting away, whereupon I would have to mumble 'sorry, no understand' and edge away with embarrassment...

Looks a bit rude this close up!

And,  last but not least, dumplings!!! Almost my entire reason for returning to the Chinese cultural zone was a deep, unshakeable need to have jiaozi back in my life. But alas, I was a little disappointed by the specimens I found in Taiwan. I'm not sure if I had been remembering them with rose-coloured nostalgia, or if they just weren't as good, but....

Called shui jiao (water dumplings) in Taiwan to differentiate them from the other type below

 ... it was all okay because in Taiwan they have potstickers!! So-called because after steaming, they are 'stuck to the pot' making them crispy on one side. No, I was wrong, THESE were my favourite food discovery of the trip!

'Guo tie' in chinese. This selection included spicy Korean and curry flavour. SO GOOD.

Not pictured, because I was too busy stuffing them in my gob to take photos, but also deserving of an honourable mention are: deep fried crispy salt and pepper squid, Taiwanese pineapple cakes (everybody's favourite souvenir) and baked sweet potatoes. Baked sweet potatoes are not exactly hard to find or indeed do at home, but for some reason they make great street food, just served plain in a paper bag. They seem to have little stalls selling them everywhere. In fact, I have no idea why we dont have such things in the UK, especially with the cold... gap in the market? 

Oh wait, we have baked NORMAL potato street stalls everywhere in the UK. Darn.

To be totally honest, despite all the deliciousness above, I preferred the food in Kunming for flavour and just sheer yum factor (Kunming food was so tasty I regularly ate it even though I knew it was 80% likely to make me ill! I mean, also I had no choice, but I probably would have anyway), but Taiwan wins for variety for sure. In Taiwan, when I got sick of Chinese food, it was just as easy and almost as cheap to go for something more like this:

Japanese chain Tonkatsu. Unbelievably good edamame beans and miso, way better than Wagamamas and a 5th of the price!

 This:

Or this:

If you know me, you know that they way to my heart is salad. SALAD. That's right, you heard me! SAAAALAAAAD!

Before I go, I would just like to leave you with this image:

Apart from just being a nice night market photo, I took this for the dish third from the left, top row... if you can't quite make it out it says 'chicken butts'... hehe he hurr.... chicken butts. Chicken butts! On a stick! Haha!

Okay, I'm done now.