[Topic] Taiwanese Cuisine

Many of my students have trouble naming their favorite Taiwanese dishes, so I decided to make a lesson and blog post on it!

Taiwanese cuisine is definitely one of my favorite type of cuisine. There's so much street food to eat in the night markets. Foreigners love to try out different food there. Here are some of the classics:

Here's a few delicious Taiwanese dishes:

• Beef noodles

• Chicken fillet

• Gua Bao

• Braised pork rice

• Oyster omelet

• Soup dumplings

Beef noodles: a noodle soup made of stewed or red braised beef, beef broth, vegetables and noodles

• There's 2 types: traditional spicy red broth and clear broth soup.

• Noodles are often handmade or sliced.

Chicken fillet: chicken breast coasted with bread crumbs and then deep fried

• Fried chicken fillet comes with different flavors including cheese.

Gua Bao: a steamed bun filled with braised pork belly, pickled Chinese cabbage and powdered peanuts

• Gua Bao is like the Taiwanese version of a hamburger.

Braised pork rice: minced pork belly slow-cooked in soy sauce with five spices topped with a braised egg

• Braised pork rice is one of the most well-known Taiwanese classic dish.

Oyster omelet: pan-fried with eggs, Chinese cabbage and little oysters, while sweet potato starch is added for "QQ" texture (= Asian version of chewy, like the bubbles in the milk tea)

Soup dumplings: steamed buns with delicate skins filled with pork and meat broth (soup from the dumpling).

• The most famous restaurant for xiao long bao is definitely Din Tai Fung. Known for their perfectly 18-folds soup dumplings, a must-go for travelers in Taiwan.

Do you like to have Taiwanese dishes, but you don't know how to describe them to foreigners? Or you have foreign clients visiting Taiwan and you need to keep a list of must-try Taiwanese food? Let's talk about it in class! (Other than Taiwanese dishes, we can talk about the differences between late night snacks in Taiwan VS America)

↘ Which Taiwanese dish is your favorite? Comment below! Is there any not mentioned here? Let me know too in the comments below↙