As promised, this is a look at some of the streetfood in Taiwan. I love the streetfood here, not only for its deliciousness, but also as a symbol of thriving individualism and entrepreneurship, something that has been hunted to near extinction in our modern western societies.
But a disclaimer first...there is a a TON of very common streetfood that I haven't shown here because, well, they're really common. So I didn't really think of getting pictures of them. And really, there's just too much. Seriously, just go and try everything, it's all delicious :).
Let's start with some basics. There's a lot of fresh produce, veggies and fruit, that are sold daily on the streets. From my experience, it's usually near some major intersection, maybe near a train station for example.
Some stands will sell just one type of fruit or one type of herb, and that's it. I'm guessing they probably grow these at home on a small plot of land and roll them in a cart to the market.
There're also simple foods, that require a little bit of labor, which is usually made right there while being sold. These are probably just some mochi-like jellies.
Other places have evolved into mini restaurants, offering many dishes, with some folding tables and stools.
Try that in America without getting fined up the wazoo if you don't have all the proper permissions and documentation. I'm pretty sure I recently read about some girls who had their lemonade stand shut-down because they didn't have the proper permits. O yea, here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/11/texas-cops-shut-down_n_7562278.html
Meanwhile, we have mega-conglomerates on every corner hawking toxic, disease-laden, processed crap to poor people who have no choice but to commit to getting diabetes in their 30s. Anyway, moving on...
Different areas will specialize depending on the local environment. If, for example, you happen to be near a port city, then you'll be able to get fresh seafood anytime.
So it's become this thing, where it seems like whatever we do here is based around food. I'm not sure if this is a conscious pattern, but I've noticed that our entire day is basically moving to and from locations for food.
So like, let's go to this city, because they have the best noodle and chicken dish at this one stand.
Or, if you're at a place that's known for a dish, you pretty much have to get some, just to do it. Which is why I ended up getting some fried green onion balls. I forget what they're really called, but this is basically what it is.
Yup, just green onion, wrapped in dough, and deep fried. They're actually a lot better than I imagined, and they are EXTREMELY hot so watch out.
A lot of the variety is contributed by immigrants selling their traditional foods alongside the locals. There's a good amount of immigration from the Southeast Asian countries, so there's no shortage of pho or thai curry, thank God. Sometimes there's stuff that I've never seen before.
These were Korean mini-pizza-pastries, like a really tiny personal pan pizza, or a really huge bagel bite. They were, obviously, delicious.
Now onto my favorite food, meat!
First we have little balls of meat, or meatballs:
Some of them grow up, and become meats on a stick, or meatsticks:
The very best of them, become sausages on a stick.
Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about the sausages here. When you first bite into them, they pretty much EXPLODE with juice and flavor, on an unimaginable level. It's like they should have a new name because they are so much better than normal sausages, like "king sausages" or something. They're very common here, and usually had with a fresh clove of garlic, alternating between bites of sausage and nibbles on the clove. O yea, there are also some veggies on a stick, like the cornsticks annoyingly blocking the exquisite king sausages, but like anyone cares about them, am I right?
And now my second favorite food, fried food!
Yes, there is definitely no shortage of fried offerings here.
Although, it's not pictured, my favorite would be the fried chicken, which is like a Taiwanese staple food. Again, they are SO good, and SO much better than our fried chicken, that Colonel Sanders should weep and commit harakiri in shame.
edit: ok so I found out that Colonel Sanders was not just cartoon mascot for KFC, but a real person and also dead, so just kidding
Anyway, these little guys were new to me. And delicious. You can just pop the entire thing in your mouth, because the shells are so thin, it's all edible.
And finally, these deserved an honorable mention, due not only to their strange appearance, but also to their toothsomeness (that's a synonym for deliciousness, weird huh).
Yes, stinky tofu! And these are special, because they're black! Really cool, my first time seeing them too. Yea, so not only do they smell bad, they also look disgusting. Here's a closeup to attest:
But you can tell your other senses to shut their faces, because these dudes are toothsome as hell!
Okay, hope you enjoyed this post covering just a minute fraction of the streetfood available in Taiwan. See you next time!