Tiana Eats Taiwan 004

in ,

So this last "Tiana Eats Taiwan" post is dedicated to those foods/snacks/drinks I forgot to mention in earlier posts! Let's get right to it.

SUGAR CANE

My parents love to tell my siblings and I about how their snacks when they were kids was sugar cane. My grandfather on my mom's side was actually a government official in charge of agriculture so she frequented many sugar cane farms as a child.

My mom actually brought us by one of the old sugar cane farms she used to visit as a child. It looks nothing like a farm anymore. They're now designed to be little tourist pit stops. There are lots of shops and food vendors. While we were there my mom got to eat the small snails she used to like to eat in movie theaters. I can't imagine eating small snails while watching a movie now. Meanwhile, my sister and I tried to the ice cream made with sugar cane juice. They were unbelievably good, except my cone broke while I was eating mine. Oops.

On the road down to Taitung from Hualien we stopped by a sugar cane vendor on the street. My mom got off the car to pick up some sugar cane, sugar cane juice and peanuts. 

Eating sugar cane is interesting... and some people may find it kind of disgusting. You take a bite of the sugar cane, chew it up in your mouth, and then spit out the leftovers.

 

FRUIT-FLAVORED BEER

I absolutely love Taiwanese fruit beer. The alcohol content is low, but it is delicious. It essentially tastes like fruit flavored soda blended with the taste of beer. At convenience stores you can pick up two flavors: mango and grape. However, outside convenience stores, there are a variety of flavors available. It makes me sad that fruit beer isn't really a thing in the States.

 

BENTO

Bento lunch boxes are very popular in Taiwan. I'm not sure if this is directly related to Japanese occupation, but regardless, they're very tasty. This visit I had the opportunity to try out two of Taiwan's most famous rice bentos. The first was unexpected. When my family and I boarded the train from Taipei to Hualien, my mom told us that the train bento are among Taiwan's most famous. They're fairly inexpensive (~80NT = $2.75 US) and come with quite a bit. They come with rice, meat, pickled vegetables and an egg. A very filling and complete meal for the price.

The other famous bento we had was near the Chihsang Rice Field in the Taitung region of Taiwan. The Chihsang Rice Field became famous because of this Japanese commercial that was filmed there. The rice in this region is very famous and the scenery is gorgeous. If you ever have the opportunity you should drive by there and go cycling through the rice fields and try the famous rice bento. While we were there we tried out a restaurant where you could actually eat inside old train cars. A worthwhile pit stop. 

 

KENTING SEAFOOD MARKET

If you ever visit Kenting, you must visit the seafood market. I'm not crazy about seafood, but since we had traveled all the way there I decided to try some. The sashimi was incredibly fresh. So much so that you can watch the woman take the fresh fish and slice it up into sashimi right in front of you. I also had the opportunity to try many local specialties. My favorite were the mayo bamboo and flying fish. Mayo bamboo is actually covered in kewpie, which is a Japanese mayonnaise. Less fatty and more sweet in flavor. The flying fish just happened to be in season while we were visiting. I never had it before, and it was surprisingly tasty. The taste reminded me a bit of flounder.

 

HUALIEN MOCHI CAKE

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Hualien, check out the mochi cake. They make for great gifts, because they last longer than regular mochi. The difference between Japanese mochi and the Hualien mochi cake is that Japanese mochi is wrapped in sticky rice, whereas Hualien mochi cake is wrapped in cake.