Episode 4: The Five Food Groups

It has been quite some time since the last episode. The month of October has been interesting, we had a three-day weekend for the Double Ten holiday (similar to independence day), I've been sick with bronchitis, and I've been subbing kindy for a good portion of the month. Next week's payday is going to be nice!. While I have plenty of topics to write about, I know everyone has been waiting for the food update. The Taiwanese love to eat. It's one of the main activities at the night markets or should I say the number one activity. It' also less expensive to eat out here than to cook. So I eat for almost all of my meals or pick something up on the way home. 

I'm sure I could write many page on food here in Taiwan so I'll have to cut back a little bit.  I'd like to introduce you to the five food groups here in Taiwan. 

1) Things with noodles. Chao mian is a staple during the week, quick and easy.  And I know how to say it.  There are rice noodles, regular noodles, udon noodles. Just take you pick. 

2) Things with rice. The word for rice also doubles as the word for meal. You get a lot of it here. Learn "chao fan" and you can get by on fried rice for a little while you first weeks in Taiwan. 

3) Thing that are fried. The Taiwanese love fried food. Well I'm not sure if they love it, but they make it an awful lot. As an Okie, I have to admit they do fried chicken "ji pai" quite well. In Yingee I ate yam balls, which seemed to be like donut holes made of sweet potatoes. They were actually quite delicious. On the streets and at the night markets, you will see a number of "fry stations," where you fill a basket with various items, chicken, veggies, or tofu, and the vendor fries the entire basket and gives it back. There are also fried cakes with custard or red red beans inside You'll also find a lot of fried chicken and fried pork in the lunch boxes. 

4) Things on a stick. A large portion of food here comes on a stick, candied fruit, roasted corn, meat, squid tofu, blood (usually of the pig variety). The blood thing sounds weird, but it comes sort of hardened in a square or at least I was told it was pig's blood. 

5) Things that wiggle. Gelatinous is it's own category here in Taiwan. The most well-known example is the pearls. It's known as bubble tea back in the states. Pearl tea is very popular here, and if I'm correct started here. It can be any tea with jelly pearls at the bottom. I love milk tea, but I don't drink it with the pearls or "jin ju" because I don't like the surprise of texture in my drink. A traditional Taiwanese dessert is also a type of jelly served over ice with cream. It's quite good. The jelly is sort of like jello but less processed. 

These are just some of the beginning observation about food here in Taiwan. I'm don't eat as healthy here as I as I do back home. The first food words I learned were related to meat and carbs, so I just need to learn the words for vegetables. It's best to eat fruit here, which I'm not a huge fan of. There are of course plenty of kinds of fruit that I've never seen before. Grapes here are almost the size of golf balls, and there are at least 10 types of apples that I never knew existed. I had to take a class of kindergartners to the grocery store, and I'm fairly certain I found it just as interesting than they did. 

Going out to east is always and adventure because my friends and I can't read most menus. On evening, when we were to check off what we wanted to order on paper, we just went over to a group of guys and asked them to check of what they orders We though it looked good and sure enough it was a good meal. 

I'm quite used to the food, to the point that western food makes me feel awful now. Taiwan does unfortunately have a serious lack of potatoes, bread, and cheese, which are perhaps the three staples of my diet back home. This weekend, I discovered Flavorfield in the Sogo Department store, which as a real bakery with real french bread. They even had gruyère! Needless to say, I want to live inside the Flavorfield.