Uniqueness of Taiwan Cuisine

Since ingredients were scarce in the region, the Taiwanese food developed as simple preparations cooked out of whatever was available. Thus, sweet potatoes and taro roots were used as substitutes if rice was unavailable. Such adaptations are quite frequent in Taiwanese cuisines, for instance, soups contain quite unusual ingredients like pork bones or bitter melons. Taiwanese creativity in cooking is again evident in their use of seasonings. Black beans, pickles, parsleys, basil, etc are used to add a tinge to the otherwise modest ingredients used. The subtropical island has a rich store of fruits like papaya and melon, which regularly find their way into the dishes of the region.

The cuisine of Taiwan is usually milder than the spicy Szechwan dishes, though it is spicier when compared to the cuisines of northern China. Taiwanese cooks made a good use of staple ingredients like rice, pork, Soya, wine, etc. Seafood is widely used in Taiwanese cuisines. A variety of seafood including tuna, sardines, squids, etc recur as common factors in many of the dishes. Chicken comes next in preference for the Taiwanese taste buds.

The cuisines of Taiwan are therefore simple yet ingenious improvisations that make the Taiwanese dishes a varied and unique experience for the connoisseurs.

In contrast to the refined dishes served at elegant banquets are a wide variety of local foods generally known as xiao-chi in Mandarin (“small eats”), which are something like a delicacy, snack, or one dish of a main meal. These are local dishes with the taste of the countryside. They are the product of folk culture and represent popular aesthetics. Superficially, therefore, xiao-chi seem to be quite the opposite of banquet dishes: folk as opposed to elegance, of different classes, with different flavors. For some time, however, xiao-chi culture has been on the rise, honing its qualities, and attracting attention and praise from all strata of society. This goes to show that there are no distinct boundaries between the two culinary cultures but, rather, that they share much in common.

Xiao-chi are “folk” in that their contents relate to people’s lives; they originated in everyday life, and are permeated with popular features. Taiwan’s xiao-chi have flavors from throughout mainland China as well as from Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. Folk xiao-chi are found throughout Taiwan’s culinary world, in all the eight main categories of cuisine, and might be generally termed “Taiwan’s folk xiao-chi.” This comprises both foodstuffs and local produce, which differ in both characteristics and culinary methods. Each area has its own geographic characteristics, resulting in a myriad of folk xiao-chi.