Taiwanese Food : Exploring food in Taiwan

With the "Help Fili eat… better" Taiwanese-Chinese food project going a lot better than I expected, I thought it was time to introduce a little of the Taiwanese culture with writing something about some of the really great Taiwanese food I find here in Taiwan. But, in the past few days, the project has also taken me to wonderful sites and videos that will do that much better than I would ever be able to. So, here’s some link love on Taiwanese food here in Taiwan.

The students up at NCTU started a wonderful project called "Wasai Taiwan – Culture Taiwan", aimed at helping the likes of me in introducing some of Taiwan’s culture, including a start on some of the things foreigners face regarding food culture in Taiwan. I hope they keep on doing this one.

To really get some of the best food photos and food recommendations, I suggest you go have a look at a blog called "A hungry girl’s guide to Taipei". She has done an unbelievable job of documenting endless mouth watering dishes at various restaurants and food stalls around Taipei/Taiwan with a few wonderful food posts almost every week.

You might also want to check out the Pinoy Cook with her recent "Food tripping in Taiwan" article published in a Manila newspaper. Some more great food shots in there…

It just so happens that I also recently came across a wonderful TV show called "Bizarre foods with Andrew Zimmern" through the lovely "The Bala Daily" blog (later also saw a link on the ever-informative View from Taiwan and the Taipei Tripper blogs):

Andrew headed to Taipei, where he tried several delicacies, including 1,000-year-old thousand eggs and blood pudding on a stick. He then sampled a couple of foods said to have medicinal powers: rooster’s testicles, which supposedly increase a man’s virility; and black-boned chicken, which is believed to invigorate women after they have given birth, as well as help liver ailments and sharpen eyesight.

Andrew’s final stop was Wulai, a famous mountain village in northern Taiwan. He experienced the "dama noodle," which is actually not a noodle at all but fermented meat!

I think the show’s absolutely brilliant. So, to sum things up here are all the 6 parts of that episode (food photo slides also available if you’re in a hurry):  

Great stuff, right?