The maniac is back and with a larger than ever appetite! Amongst my various nerdy traits, I am an unashamed foodie. Many of my friends have heard me joke about having an obese soul or muse on the desire to travel the world solely based on food. Moreover, I am not just any foodie—I am a foodie daredevil. Perhaps to compensate for my cowardice towards the more physical of stunts like skydiving or even riding a skateboard, the powers that be concentrated all my bravery into my tongue. I love experimenting with new dishes, especially bizarre ones that shock the Western mind. Thus, it should not be a surprise to anyone that as soon as the traces of my stomach bug wore off mid-week, my adventures became centered on all the quirky Taiwanese grub I had been missing out on! As I expound on my latest explorations in the Taipei metropolis, I will highlight each of the new dishes I’ve tried and my critiques of them:
Day 4—Campus Waffles and Dan Dan Noodles
My first thoughts when my phone alarm buzzed me awake were about cereal. I knew I had leftover congee (rice porridge I bought from a Seven Eleven to accommodate my sensitive stomach) in the fridge from the other night, but my cranky morning brain dismissed practicality and demanded a normal, American breakfast. It was a strange first thing to miss about my home country because I’ve never had much fondness for cereal. I eat it back home simply out of routine and even have a weird aversion to eating it after traditional breakfast hours. Yet the craving stuck as my classmates and I were given a tour of nearby shops by our advisory teacher. Much to my delight, a supermarket five minutes away housed a modest selection of cereal and other European imports that can give my conditioned palette familiarity when needed. We also found a tiny cat café squeezed into a quiet alleyway that I want to try out once my summer classes start, just to have some four-legged study buddies. Towards the end of our street meandering, our kind natured teacher took us to a food stand on the university campus and treated us to the school’s supposedly famous waffles. The segment I tried with chocolate spread on top was tasty, but quite obviously made of ordinary, store-bought batter—nothing special besides its intrinsic “foreign-ness” to locals.
After snapping a quaint group photo, we decided to eat lunch together at a noodle shop our teacher recommended. I enjoy a nice kick in my food, so despite already having a parched mouth from roaming outdoors, I selected a bowl of spicy dan dan noodles. From eating this medley of green onions, chili sauce, and rice-flour noodles topped with peanut powder, I could tell that Taiwan’s grasp of “spicy” was an entire dimension apart from my upbringing of family members snacking on jalapenos straight from the jar. The alleged “heat” of those noodles was more like a simmer nearly snuffed out by peanut ashes to me! The entrée was still plenty delicious, but I could not help but yearn for a sharper spice to pierce Taiwan’s culinary sweet tooth.
Day 5—Magical Meesua Noodles and Black Sugar Boba
With Friday having finally arrived, my classmates and I were ready for an exciting escapade to the renowned Shilin Night Market. Now, before anyone jumps to dramatic conclusions about the ominous phrase “Night Market”, allow me to explain; night markets are a special phenomenon of Taiwan alleyways where the setting of the sun gives rise to an iridescent paradise for foodies and shopaholics. Food stands and souvenir shops blossom in the starlight like a bed of cactus flowers, drawing citizens on the streets as flies to fruit by their exotic wares. Walking the corridors are a feast to the senses before a single snack is sampled. At one street corner, the sweet and sticky fragrance of mango smoothies lingers next to a blanket of neon gym shorts displayed for sale at your feet. On another, rows of cheery lanterns come at odds with pungent whiffs of tofu and the sizzling of octopus tentacles.
Shilin’s night market, in particular, is the largest and arguably most crowded of northern Taiwan. My tiny stature made it challenging to navigate the tide of customers without losing sight of the classmates I came with! Nevertheless, with the help of a student who had already scoped the market a previous night, we spotted a cart selling piping-hot folk dishes and stumbled in line. We each bought a bowl of soupy noodles known by its local dialect name, “Meesua” [its alternate, but more vague, Mandarin name is 面线]. The vinegary oyster broth, fresh cilantro, and string-thin noodles were such a delight that one hardly minded scalding the tongue to gulp it down. It was simply enchanting; no joke, I have daydreamed about these noodles on a daily basis ever since that night! To top it all off, one hearty cup cost only 25 NTD—about 80 cents in US currency!
To soothe our charred mouths afterwards, we waited through the ridiculously long line of what had to have been the most popular drink shop in the market. The classmate who had previously gone insisted we needed to try the stand’s black sugar boba: milk with a torched sugar unique to China, paired with a mound of tapioca “boba” pearls and a splash of rosewater. When we finally reached the cashier to snag glasses of our own, sipping the concoction was like a hug for the throat. It’s how I would imagine chocolate milk would be if it tasted more delicate and had the occasional tapioca bubble to enjoy popping in the mouth. I gleefully sipped it as we stopped by a carnival-esque set of booths and a student tried his hand at a balloon-shooting game. He lost despite having shot down more than half of the rotating set. I suppose the games are also as impossible to win here as they are in western carnivals!
The wristband shown is from my study abroad program. It says "please speak Chinese with me". Kudos to the classmate that held my drink so I could take this shot!
The boys in my group continued to purchase fried meats and sausage to satisfy their larger appetites, but I was at the cusp of satisfaction and knew only one more snack was needed to complete my evening. At last, the perfect dessert called out to me in gleaming towers of crimson orbs—“bing tang hu lu [冰糖葫芦]”, candied fruit skewers. To make this juicy treasure, a stack of strawberries and a cherry tomato are thickly coated in red syrup that hardens the fruit into glucose garnets. Though messy and requiring a firm bite, bing tang hu lu remains to be my favorite Taiwan dessert thus far. Plus, it’s a very photogenic food!
As a side note, just because Chinglish is adorable, I had to snap a shot of this hilarious typo:
Days 6 and 7—Zoo Spaghetti and Roselles
On Saturday, my study abroad program arranged for all the students to be paired with a language partner at the Taipei zoo. My partner, Miss Jian, and I connected instantly from our shared love of photographing flowers. The local greenery cultivated between animal exhibits was so eye-catching that we actually took more photos of plants than we did animals. With each flower, my language partner taught me its local name and whether it was poisonous.
The literal translation for this flower in Chinese is "Golden Rain". What a name!
The panda exhibit, of course, was a site the zoo placed especial emphasis on in their marketing, with a separate gift shop solely dedicated to panda merchandise and a line of security guarding the glass-encased pen. The dingy glass and swarm of viewers swinging their heads about, equally eager to snap a photo, made the experience a little mundane and frustrating. I was not lucky enough to see the two pandas awake and could only capture a fraction of their cuteness in the best picture I could muster.
This camel thinks he's being all incognito, but I know he's plotting to spit on my face.
Getting to know Miss Jian was more interesting to me than looking at animals nap in the shade (which I certainly couldn’t blame them for, as hot as the afternoon was). She treated me to lunch at a zoo restaurant desperately trying to be Western, its menu largely consisting of various spaghetti dishes. I don’t think anyone quite pictures themselves eating Italian above a panda observatory in an Asian country, but that’s what we did. Like any tourist trap, it was mediocre and overpriced, but we relished the air conditioning and talked the afternoon away. I look forward to seeing her once each week and sharing more adventures.
On the final day of the week, I went to a Chinese-speaking church. Because I was the only foreigner there who wasn’t a missionary, the whole congregation thought I was one too, so I had to explain dozens of times that I was here for study abroad. I loved singing along to the hymns that now had Chinese lyrics to accompany the familiar tune. Whenever I couldn’t read a character, I delayed slightly to hear the sound my neighbors made and mimicked it, which was surprisingly effective. If you ask me, it’s much easier to “fake it till you make it” with monosyllabic Chinese words than lip syncing English!
A group of members made a mini potluck lunch later on and invited me to eat. A new thing I was able to try among the homemade goodies was preserved roselle flowers. I thought it would have a leafy flavor or taste like an acrid herbal medicine, but they strangely share around the same consistency and taste as a cranberry. Yep, if I’ve learned anything from my overseas food experiences so far, it’s that Taiwan cuisine can find the sweetness in just about anything.
My stories are far from over, and I apologize that I’m running behind in writing them all! I still plan to try my best delivering the latest between travels and coursework. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming posts featuring famous cabbage, a romantic bridge, and the upcoming Dragonboat Festival!
With Love,
The Mandarin Maniac