By the time I am writing this, I would like to say that I am
already accustomed to most of Taiwanese food, since I have been living
in Taiwan for one year, but the truth is that my experience with
Taiwanese food hasn’t been as broad as I would like it to be, although I
know that one interesting way of knowing about another culture is by
trying the traditional food.
The main problem is the language barrier;
sometimes it is difficult to experience all of the dishes of the menu
when you can’t really understand what is written on it, but from the
experience that I have so far, I can say that my favorite dishes are the
famous dumplings (shui3 jiao3) –steamed, fried or in soup-, the hot and
sour soup and beef noodles soup. Since I like strong flavors and the
combination of sour and sweet, these is the kind of food that I have
really enjoyed here in Taiwan; I could eat it over and over again and
never get tired of it.
As a foreigner student, sometimes one of the things that one really
misses is the food, but when you find something that fit your taste,
this food starts to become one of the things that connect you with the
foreign culture and that give you the opportunity of knowing more about
their cuisine.
I remember the first time I tried these dishes, I liked it very
much. The dumplings are really good, even those that they sell already
packaged at some convenient stores taste nice, so, besides the good
taste, the convenience and easiness of finding it is great. About the
soups, I can say that it reminds me a little bit of the flavor of my
home town’s dishes, although with different appearance; in fact, soups
have been my favorite plate ever, and here in Taiwan, the beef noodles
and hot and sour soups are the ones that have better flavor –in my
opinion-, and you can find it at any night market or Taiwanese
restaurant.
Now that I just have one year left here, I guess that I will have
to eat it more often because when I go back to my country I know it will
be difficult to find a place where I can order it.
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