Adventures in Taiwanese Food - Part 1

There's a humorous old missionary saying: "Where you lead me I will follow... what you feed me I will swallow." Even as a young child I enjoyed hearing the comical stories missionaries would share of the very unusual things they had been forced to eat and pretend to enjoy.

Fast forward a few years, and I am now on the mission field myself, encountering all the interesting food Taiwan has to offer. And... it's pretty amazing. No roasted tarantulas, fermented horse milk, or rotten fish here, but I've had pig spinal cord, bird's nest soup, and stinky tofu, and enjoyed it all. Either God has graciously changed my taste buds or I was born with a Chinese stomach, but I've encountered very few things I honestly don't like here, and lots of food I really enjoy. Much ministry and relationship-building here happens over a good meal and afterwards, much like what we read in the New Testament.

First, some words about the food situation in Taiwan:

1. It's Cheap - American dine-in chain restaurants here (T.G.I Friday's is fairly popular, for example) are typically about the same price they'd be in America, just translated over into Taiwan dollars. That makes them comparatively pricey, so I basically only eat at that kind of restaurant when specifically invited to eat there by friends, which happens maybe once a month. 
But for local food, although there's been significant inflation in recent years, it's still roughly half to two-thirds the price you'd pay for a similar portion and "level" of food in the States (where there's also been inflation). So for $5 you can eat an enjoyable meal, and if you just want to get full you can do it for $3.

This is nice because I'm aware that I'm currently living on the support of other believers, and I believe that a lot of responsibility goes along with that in how I spend money, including where I eat. Happily, I also get treated to meals a lot. (-A Taiwanese courtesy to guests, which it's also polite to attempt to avoid if it happens too much, although people are sneaky and will say they're going to use the bathroom or take a phone call and pay while they're gone. I'm getting better at treating people myself occasionally, or getting around them paying for me one way or another.)


2. It's Healthy(er) - Although you can easily find sugary, salty, processed snacks if you want, for a random meal in Taiwan you probably can tell what everything was before it was cooked; processed foods make up a much smaller part of the diet. There is less sugar in baked desserts, vegetables are actually tasty and not an obligation, lots of fresh fruit and fruit juice available, and generally the calorie density is much lower than in American food, which means many people can eat the same amount of food they'd normally eat, and still lose weight, especially if you go heavy on the meat and vegetables and light on the rice.

3. It's Delicious - Taiwan culture is, among other things, a food culture. This means that the preparation, consumption, and enjoyment of food is a significant consideration in daily life. (Some people may perceive this as gluttony. Certainly gluttony exists here, as anywhere, but I think one needs to understand what gluttony looks like within a specific cultural context rather than making assumptions based on your own cultural habits.) Because of this food culture, food is held to a higher standard in general, with a dizzying variety of options and flavors and combinations. Traditionally, presentation, fragrance, and taste are all necessary in a well-prepared Chinese dish.

And now, here's a very random selection of food I've been enjoying for the past two months. (Over half my meals are eaten with my coworker's family, as I'm spending the first few months here in an add-on rooftop apartment they own right above their apartment)
So, in no particular order:

At my coworker's place, Chinese curry and sides

At the 101 Building Food Court. Hainan Chicken & Rice (A personal favorite)

Christmas Day - Treated to a nice dinner by a friend's father, a new believer.
Papaya spears topped with sort of a French seafood bisque. This would be an example of Taiwan "fusion food"

Coffee deserves a mention in here somewhere. Although not originally a "coffee culture,"
Taiwan is now full of interesting cafes. This is at my friend's cafe near Keelung.

Sababa's. Really good Israeli/Mediterranean food, but it's gotten more expensive
since I last lived in Taipei, so I won't be going there often now.

One of our VBS lunches. Should have opened the containers for this pic, it's fried dumplings and fish ball soup.

A very simple vegetable lunch on Chinese New Year's Eve, because...

...this was coming later. Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, a really great meal
cooked by my coworker's wife, daughter, and some friends.

More obligatory Chinese New Year's feasting with my coworker's family. That's 'Peking' (Beijing) Duck on the left.

Squid on a stick! So good...

Streetside Soup Dumplings (Xiao long bao), with ginger garnish.

A winter evening's snack - peanuts and oranges. Taiwanese in-home meals are often followed by fruit and snacks.

Black-boned Chicken. As you can see, pretty much the whole chicken is black.
Tastes pretty much like normal chicken, but it's thought to be extra-healthy
and served in a Chinese traditional medicine broth.

Now some unhealthy food. Spicy Thai (NOT TAIWANESE) potato chips.

Valentine's Day was... "tranquil." 7-11 snacks made it a relatively festive party of one.

A lovely meal cooked by my coworker's wife and a friend.

After a long evening of walking around the city, stopped by a Taiwanese diner for a very late supper.

The best Gua bao I've ever eaten (Rice bun with lots of moist pulled-pork BBQ hidden under the Chinese parsley), with pork intestine soup.

So that's a very random assortment of what I'm eating these days, and I'm grateful for such a variety of good food.

10 Things I Will Not Miss about America while in Taiwan (And Why)

Ok, so earlier I posted about 10 things I'd miss from America, so now it's time for the other side: 10 things that I won't miss from America, and how the Taiwanese lifestyle is different in those areas.

Read First:

1. I went through a long period of prayer and reflection before I decided to do missions in Taiwan, partly to make sure that I wasn't moving there just because of the things I enjoy about living in Taiwan. To see how I reached my decision, go back and read my "Why I'm Going to Taiwan" posts. I do love Taiwan, but would most likely never have moved away from the US if not for God's calling and provision, and only discovered some areas where I thought my Taiwanese lifestyle had the advantage over America after following God's leading across the Pacific.

2. For my American friends: Don't be offended~ I am not saying either Taiwan or America is "better." Think of this list as perks of life in Taiwan that I have discovered while doing ministry there. If some of these don't sound very nice to you, you can appreciate the lifestyle you currently have a little more, or come visit me and figure out what I'm talking about!

3. For my Taiwanese friends: I have noticed most American students visiting Taiwan really enjoyed it and appreciated Taiwan in various ways. I believe this appreciation of Taiwan is not based on the patronizing attitude that was common in the past from Westerners visiting Asia (and is sadly still around), but from a genuine enjoyment of encountering a culture that is strong on certain points on which Americans feel their culture has become weak. So the reaction is less often "Oh, how quaint" and more often "Hey, I wish we had something like this in America too."

4. As before, these are numbered for clarity but not in any particular order.

I will not miss...

 

1. Unhealthy/Processed Food

 

I've been happy to see in the past few years, a growing awareness of the dangers of the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) and a shift towards healthy and non-processed food. However the difference between your commonly available food on this side of the Pacific and the other side is still vast.

So although we have Whole Foods and the like now and healthy food has always been available to some degree, the food is better in Taiwan for a specific reason: The cheap, quick, easily available food in Taiwan is both healthier and tastier than in America.

On average, people will default to eating what's convenient, and the obesity problem in America demonstrates that the easily available food in the States is not doing us any favors. (lifestyle is another issue, but the omnipresence of high-calorie, highly processed food is a large part of the problem)

Ask anyone who has lived in Taiwan about something they miss, and without fail they will mention the food. It's consistently delicious, and because it's comparatively nutritious and the calorie-density is much lower, you feel better after eating it too. In Taiwan there are no drive-thrus (or at least I've never seen one in any city), and although several of the American fast food chains are present (McDonalds is everywhere in Taiwan and quite popular, and the service is about three times as fast), going there for most people is a fun alternate choice, not a typical meal. Fresh local fruit is plentiful, there is a lot of seafood, and every part of the island has its own local dishes to try. Processed food is a much smaller percentage of the average Taiwanese diet (when present it's usually in snacks, not as part of meals), tea is more common than coffee or soft drinks, desserts have less sugar, cheese and butter are almost nonexistent, and most places are not far from a fresh market, so what you're eating was grown or raised nearby.

Nightmarket snacks can be unhealthy (a lot of them are fried), but they're also one of the things Taiwan is world-famous for, and going to a nightmarket to eat them generally involves a lot of walking anyway.

^ That fruit right there
is called bell fruit, and it's one of my favorites. It also apparently can't handle
being shipped overseas, so I can only get it when I'm in Taiwan.
One of the first things I go looking for when it's in season!

All in all, I lost almost 25 pounds in Taiwan the year I lived there, and that was eating as much delicious food as I wanted and even frequently drinking milk tea (which is an example of a common Taiwanese snack food/drink which is -not- good for you).

Not healthy: Pearl milk tea! The black 'pearls' are tapioca spheres, chewy and brown sugary.
It comes with an extra wide straw so you can get a few tapioca balls with each drink.
Sounds weird if you've never tried it, but most people like it once they do...
and millions of people are addicted to it.

2. The Lack of Mass Transit

I spent a year in Taiwan without a car, and can count on one hand the number of times I felt the lack of one. I said in an earlier post that one thing I appreciate about America is being able to cruise the highways in my own vehicle. That's still true, but in the part of Taiwan where I was living, mass transit was done so well that it was a complete transportation solution. From my front door, I could walk a short distance to a bus stop, or an even shorter distance to catch a taxi. For anyone who has lived in a place like New York City, it's similar, except the metro is a lot cleaner.

As a result, in Taiwan I walk a lot more, not specially for exercise but as part of everyday life, and in general feel a lot healthier.

Now a caveat to all of this is, at that time I was living in Taipei, which has the best mass transit in Taiwan. The largest American cities will have no lack of taxis, buses, etc. too (though being comparatively spread out means they don't function as efficiently as Taiwan's denser, more vertically inclined cities), but rural areas typically have nothing at all. Most inhabited areas in Taiwan do have mass transit of some kind, buses and trains, but in rural areas they may be infrequent and the station may be far away. So for much of Taiwan, you do need a car or scooter to get around effectively, and I expect I'll be acquiring a scooter at some point over the next couple of years. (They're a little more practical than a motorcycle for day to day use in Taiwan, and Western motorcycles were under heavy import tariffs, though I think that's changed recently.)

Another big thing is trains. I love trains, and I hope America, where we used to have so many passenger trains, gets them back in the future. They are both practical and (I think) beautiful transportation solutions; in a place as densely populated as Taiwan, trains are an effective people-mover, and there are few things quite so evocative and peaceful as a countryside train platform, or as relaxing as a train ride along the seaside.

If you're willing to pay for a ticket, the HSR (High Speed Rail) can sling you from
the north end of Taiwan to the south end in less than two hours!

Of course, I've also been on train rides where I crouched in a corner and slept on my backpack in the corridor between two cars because they had sold out on tickets for seats. That was fun in a different way...

3. Customer Service Attitudes

This one is something I realized over time. There is a different attitude and expectation towards customer service in Taiwan. It may seem like a small thing, but as a customer, to be greeted with a smile and generally helpful attitude is very nice. You do encounter this in America, especially in the South, but often to get a customer service problem resolved successfully requires both persistence and skill (and sometimes near-aggression). Many low-level employees treat customers as a barely necessary annoyance, and it's not rare to need to go searching for someone to help. In Taiwan I suspect smiling is simply the expected baseline when dealing with customers, and failure to be polite and helpful would probably result in getting fired (anyone with more info on that side of things is welcome to comment). I've gotten poor service there, but it's surprising when it happens. Generally the perception is that a company's customer service is a reflection of the company, and so there is noticeable effort put into treating customers well. And I'm not the only one who thinks so, it's been observed from a business standpoint by the American Consumer Council.

This is seemingly true across East Asia in general. (A Korean friend at school was complaining to me once about the terrible attitude the cashier at a fast food restaurant had, and I realized the cashier's behavior was nothing out of the ordinary, the issue was a different expectation of how customers are treated)

N.B.: I am not ignorant of the fact that being a foreigner, I may be treated differently in these situations. However, that's mostly on an individual level, while customer service policy is set by the company itself or at least the manager. So there really is a difference. Also, once can watch how locals are treated and see that while there may be a variance in degree, the same difference applies across the board.

4. The Lack of Truly Convenient Convenience Stores

Imagine CVS or Walgreens (minus the prescription meds), combine it with a UPS or Fedex store, add wifi and the ability to pay your bills and buy train/bus tickets, prizes and discounts, and condense all that down to roughly the size of a gas station mini-mart, keep it open 24/7, and you have a Taiwanese 7-11. It takes 'convenience store' to the next level. There are a few other chains that are quite similar.

'Tis a magical place...

Now America has 7-11s in some places, and the company did start in this country, but other than selling slushies (which the Taiwanese 7-11s do have as well, sometimes in very interesting flavors), these are not much different than your typical small gas station convenience store. In Asia, someone had a great idea and revamped the whole 7-11 concept, with the result that it become ridiculously successful. Every Taiwanese town has at least a couple, and the cities are furnished with a plethora of 7-11s, Family Marts, and other similar stores, to the point that in the largest cities in Taiwan you can stand at one 7-11 and often spot the sign for the next one farther down the road

5. Little Sense of Shared Life

 

In most parts of America, when you go somewhere, you get in your car, you go there, you do what you went there to do (without much interaction with anyone else there), and you go back to work, or home. There is not much sense of shared experience ("Here we all are shopping at Wal-Mart!" -Not so much, and sometimes scary...) that you'd find even in other parts of the West, like Southern Europe.

If I seem like I'm being overly critical, think about the fact that young Americans (and not only young ones) really enjoy the opposite. That feeling- at a concert, at a theater production, at the opening night of the movie you've all been waiting for, even sometimes at coffee shops- that you came alone or with your friends but that really everyone present joins into the common experience together, is a pleasant one for most people, and part of the fun of that sort of event.

Taiwan feels like that a lot more often. At the night market, when "guang-ing" (sort of a mix of loitering, strolling, and window-shopping), resting in a park, going to the beach, there is a more noticeable sense of enjoying the activity together with everyone else there, not that you have come to do your own thing and would enjoy it more if all these dratted people would leave. It's fun partly because of all those other people enjoying themselves along with you.

6. Cookie-cutter chain Restaurants

 

Of course Taiwan has lots of chain stores and restaurants; as the world sadly becomes Starbuckized, it's hard to escape them anywhere. But in America I find it difficult to eat anywhere that's -not- a single more or less identical link in a chain of stores owned by the same company. I know a couple of places, but eating there usually involves going out of the way, or spending extra money.

In Taiwan, family-owned (and often operated) independent restaurants are plentiful; some utilitarian places with metal tables and cheap but usually tasty food, and others with fanciful themes and decor. They are typically cheaper than a chain restaurant, and will get their ingredients from the local markets and not shipped from a corporate distribution warehouse and microwaved, so the food is typically more nutritious as well.

In my experience (not sure if it's the general case in Taiwan, but it's what I observed), independent restaurants have a much slower turnover rate for employees as well. I suspect most people enjoy finding and patronizing a restaurant where "I'll have the usual" is an option, and I enjoy this in America when it happens. It was easier in Taiwan, where at one restaurant all I needed to say was "hot" or "cold" in Chinese, depending on whether I wanted hot or cold tea with my meal that day. I even got some free food out of an ongoing scrabble contest with one of the servers.

I'm not going to lie, if Taiwan got a Chipotle I'd be pretty excited, but could they rely on "fresh, local ingredients" in Taiwan and still be Chipotle? Better to appreciate the wonderful local food than wish for non-local chain restaurants to invade the market.

7. A Highly Extroverted Culture

This is a big one. America is a nation which highly values and selects for extroverted traits. It was harder to articulate in the past, but thankfully in the US there seems to be a growing awareness of what introversion actually is, and a loss of the accompanying stigma. I don't know if this awareness is taking place in Taiwan as well, but Taiwanese culture simply allows for much more introversion than America in a very natural way; one of the elements of reverse culture shock I experienced was learning how assertive you have to be in American culture without even realizing it. Some of the pleasantness of living in Taiwan that I didn't realize at the time was not having to 'fake' extroversion in day to day life.

Even on my first trip to Taiwan, there was a strange "I fit in here" sensation on a deep level, which didn't make any sense for a very white American visiting the other side of the world. I think it was partly due to this- for an introvert, once the sight-seeing is done (maybe even during it), the strong sense of the influence of other introverts begins to seep into one's consciousness. The attention to detail, so many people reading quietly in public, the tendency to form tight relationship networks rather than large numbers of casual acquaintances, the abundance of low-social-pressure activities, it's all there once you begin to look for it.

There is also the appreciation of silence. In East Asian cultures a silence is not necessarily uncomfortable, and a shared silence can actually be quite comfortable and appreciated, implying that words are not necessary to enjoy someone's company. One of my Korean friends once remarked that the feeling that silence is uncomfortable and needs to be filled with words is a very American trait. (I know there are Americans who appreciate silence too, but it's not generally true on a cultural level.)

Speaking of Introversion... if you are an introvert, read this book!
Extroverts, if you want to understand introverts, you should read it too..

8. Conversational Taboos

There's a common saying in America that two subjects that must be avoided in polite conversation are religion and politics. I already explained in a previous post why politics is a tricky subject for me in Taiwan, and one I'll have to navigate carefully. For religion, in America it is often felt to be a private matter, and discussions about it can be constrained and awkward, generally along the Christian/Secularist dynamic, or inflamed with overzealous denominationalism.

In Taiwan religion is not a subject which must be avoided, and although like anything else in specific contexts it could be awkward, the subject can generally be discussed quite freely. Many writers have mentioned this as an Asian phenomenon in general, that there is a sort of pluralistic Asian expectation that one will encounter believers of many creeds and faiths, and there's no real judging between them.

This can make a missionary's job quite easy in one sense and quite difficult in another. On the one hand, starting a conversation about religion is not difficult, others might even bring it up with you after discovering your status as a religious worker, and might be curious to know what Christians believe from someone who is ostensibly qualified to speak about it. On the other hand, the cheerful pluralism of most Taiwanese makes explaining the uniqueness and exclusivity of Christ's claims and the truth of the gospel an uphill battle, as they may refuse to disagree with you on anything. I don't know that I have ever encountered a Taiwanese person who thought negatively of Jesus (I saw a picture of Him in at least one major Taiwanese Daoist temple, along with all the other gods), and most have a positive view of Christians as well. It can take a long time and usually some relational trust to get to the point where someone understands the idea of One God as found in the Shema (see Deut 6:4), and understands the choice they must therefore make in their life of whom they will serve.

There are other conversational taboos which are absent in Taiwan, the lack of which can be jarring for newcomers. For example, direct comments on personal appearance are totally fair game. "Wow, you really got fat," said one of my friends to me in Mandarin, upon noting how much weight I'd gained after returning to America for a year and encountering the American diet with a Taiwanese appetite. Then-"No, I mean you really, really got fat," she added, to make sure the point was clear. This sort of thing is standard conversational fare in Chinese culture. Anything noticeable about one's appearance, be it height, weight, skin color, hair, etc. is likely to be brought up repeatedly.

This can be extremely unpleasant (I would guess especially for girls, and a quick google search easily confirms that) if the noticeable thing is considered a negative trait, but in one sense I have come to appreciate it as simply a willingness to remark upon the obvious. It was true that I had gained a lot of weight compared to when I left Taiwan before, and trying to deny it would merely have been an attempt at vanity as it was manifestly obvious. It might (and did) get tiring to have it be pointed out repeatedly, but just hearing it said directly is honestly preferable to me than sidelong glances and nudging and awkward attempts to pretend it wasn't noticed and that sort of thing.

9. Seasonal Allergies

As I've mentioned before, I will miss Spring and Fall in their American manifestations. But I will by no means miss the massive amounts of pollen that accompany them. Now I've heard that it takes 3-5 years for local allergies to develop after moving to a place, so I may eventually find that Taiwanese flowers harbor enmity for me as well. Taiwanese mildew certainly already does, and there can be mild air pollution at times. But at least the massive incapacitating allergy attacks that arrive with the flowering of Spring, when the rivers run yellow in Alabama, and coming of Autumn, when the ragweed wages biological warfare, will not follow me there. In the mean time I will be eating lots of Taiwanese honey, trying to build up a resistance to the local pollen in general.

10. Ubiquitous Central Air Conditioning

This one may sound bizarre to you, and it would have to me, years ago. But after living in Taiwan and getting quite used to A/C on a more limited level, I really prefer it that way. Street-side restaurants are often open to the outside, and have a wall mounted A/C unit or two or some oscillating fans to keep the worst part of the luminous humidity and heat at bay. In my apartment I had an A/C window unit in my bedroom and living room. I only activated the latter as a 'luxury' during the hottest parts of the year (a luxury missionaries did not always have in Taiwan!), and turned on the bedroom A/C unit a little while before going to bed. The room was nice and cool if the door was kept shut, and the white noise of the unit actually helped with sleeping.

My trusty bedroom window A/C unit... it will have to live on in my memory,
as TEAM has since sold the building and the block is slated for development

Coming back to the states, I often felt like we all live in refrigerators. We may be warm blooded creatures, but the constant chill and conditioned air devoid of smells and variability has a noticeably dulling effect on the body and mind when you're used to going without it.

Now I am extremely grateful that Taiwan has -some- A/C. A total lack leads to things like the severe heat rash I got working at a Taiwanese summer camp from sweating all night due to having no A/C in the sleeping quarters, which was miserable. But there is a balance, and I think having some rooms with A/C and others (and many open air restaurants) without it is a nice balance. Sometimes a fan to move the air around is enough. And call me strange, but I think we need to be reminded of the world that exists on the other side of those double-insulated windows, and how our separation from it is arbitrary and conditional. Maybe we need to learn to toughen up and handle the outside weather a little more, like so many generations before us, and isolate ourselves in climate-controlled boxes a little less.