Food, Glorious Food

Okay...I've been promising a description of Taiwanese cuisine for a while now, so here goes.

First, let's dispel a few myths about food in Taiwan. One particular acquintance of mine put most of these in my head before leaving, and he shall remain nameless (cough, cough, Billy Deegan, cough, cough.) But here are some of the mistaken ideas I had before I left, and the truth:

Myth 1: "Oreos cost the equivalent of $10 a box and are hard to find."

Fact: Oreos are as readily available in Taiwan as in the States, and I can't tell that they cost any more than they do Stateside. I guess the Taiwanese love chocolate-and-Crisco cookies as much as us lofang (foreigners).

Myth 2: "The Chinese eat nothing but vegetables and hardly any meat."

Fact: While I can't speak for cuisine on the Mainland, which must serve three times as many people as the United States on far less arable land, Taiwanese food that I have had (NOT counting McDonald's or other Western imports) has not been noticeably less meat-based than American food. Yes, the Taiwanese eat a lot of broth and noodles, but they like their beef and chicken just as much as we do.

Myth 3: "You'll lost 30 pounds in Taiwan."

Fact: It's too early to tell. I may yet lose 30 pounds in Taiwan. But it won't be because of a lack of good, and potentially fattening, food to eat. Buffet-style places seem to be everywhere, always a good bet when the number of Chinese words you know doesn't yet require using both hands.

About the only story I heard about Taiwanese food that has shown itself to be true is that the Taiwanese do like spicy food. For instance, the first day I was here, my employers took me to a buffet, where I was excited to see brisket on the menu. On a scale of one to five alarm bells, I'd say that what I had that day was at least four-alarm brisket. But it was good to know that the Taiwanese have at least heard of brisket, even if they haven't yet had the idea of building a religious festival around it or serving it with matzoh ball soup and charoset.

A few dishes you definitely will encounter in Taiwan include:

Congee, a kind of rice porridge served for breakfast, often with bits of fish or meat in it. Haven't had it yet, but I'm sure it's bound to happen sooner or later.

Milk tea. If you've ever had a Thai iced tea at a Thai restaurant, you'll have some idea what this is like. But here, you can buy the local version at every 7-Eleven, which is to say, about every three feet you go. It's not quite as good as the Thai version, but it's till pretty good. I'm slowly becoming addicted to a brand called Dr. Tea.

A scrambled egg stuck in a pancake. I don't know the name of it yet, but, like congee, seems to be everywhere. Think of it as the Taiwanese version of a Breakfast Burrito, though not, oddly, as spicy.

Fish including the eyes. You think I am kidding, but I'm not. And I don't just mean a whole fish put on a platter for company, with the understanding that no one eats the eye of the fish. I mean, a whole bunch of them staring at you in a buffet line. And I swear I have seen at least one person actually eat the eye of the fish.

Stinky tofu. Haven't actually stumbled across it yet, but it is regarded by us lofan (foreigners) almost as Taiwan's national dish. The aroma is very pungent.

Western-style fast food, as I have noted, is readily available in Taiwan, though there are some differences. For instance, I looked in at a Domino's pizza and noted that, instead of pepperoni, mushrooms, or the usual toppings Americans are used to, they offered versions of their pizza with such exotic topics as kimchi and shrimp.