I met Stephanie when we were studying abroad in London. She joined me in an adventure to Brussels and Amsterdam, so we've traveled together before, but she's wanted to show me her home city of Taipei for a while now. She had told me about the motor scooters and the amazing food and the friendly people, all of which were present in Taiwan's capital.
What made Taipei different was the group I was with. Stephanie had a few friends vising from the United States, so, with the help of some of her Taiwanese friends, she led us through the city. Our crew of new friends ate the best soup dumplings ever ("You have to eat it right. Bite into it a little first and let the soup fall on the spoon. Then eat the dumpling, then drink the soup"), learned how to pray at Longshan Temple (Put a stick in each pot with your left hand for good luck), and climbed Taipei 101 for... Well, we didn't seem much through the clouds, but we were very high up - higher than any office building in North America.
Knowing the locals has its perks. Stephanie and her friends were our translators and our tour guides for our time spent in Taipei. She introduced me to some of Taiwan's local cuisine. Milk tea is delicious. Pig's blood is somewhat less delicious. Even if I didn't know what I was eating, I was always told after. Sometimes, the identity of the food was hidden so my new friends and I would try it without thinking it was too different from what we were used to. Sometimes, though, that isn't even necessary. Rich was eager to try snake blood at one of Taipei's night markets. He loved it and said it tasted very sweet. Even Stephanie wasn't too excited about that one.
Though some of the meals might seem really strange to those of us raised outside of Asia, I could tell that Taipei's food was really good. Even though I didn't like the grilled dried squid, I knew it was probably the best grilled dried squid available anywhere. The food's just really different. I think it's easy for Americans raised eating typical American foods to go to Italy and love Italian food. The animals-and different parts of animals-used in food here take some time to adjust to eating. The food's excellent, it just sounds really bizarre to us. When I asked one of Stephanie's friends about it, she said American food seems just as weird to them. When I think about it, I know what's in pig's blood. I don't have any clue what, exactly, is in my hamburger.
What made Taipei different was the group I was with. Stephanie had a few friends vising from the United States, so, with the help of some of her Taiwanese friends, she led us through the city. Our crew of new friends ate the best soup dumplings ever ("You have to eat it right. Bite into it a little first and let the soup fall on the spoon. Then eat the dumpling, then drink the soup"), learned how to pray at Longshan Temple (Put a stick in each pot with your left hand for good luck), and climbed Taipei 101 for... Well, we didn't seem much through the clouds, but we were very high up - higher than any office building in North America.
Knowing the locals has its perks. Stephanie and her friends were our translators and our tour guides for our time spent in Taipei. She introduced me to some of Taiwan's local cuisine. Milk tea is delicious. Pig's blood is somewhat less delicious. Even if I didn't know what I was eating, I was always told after. Sometimes, the identity of the food was hidden so my new friends and I would try it without thinking it was too different from what we were used to. Sometimes, though, that isn't even necessary. Rich was eager to try snake blood at one of Taipei's night markets. He loved it and said it tasted very sweet. Even Stephanie wasn't too excited about that one.
Though some of the meals might seem really strange to those of us raised outside of Asia, I could tell that Taipei's food was really good. Even though I didn't like the grilled dried squid, I knew it was probably the best grilled dried squid available anywhere. The food's just really different. I think it's easy for Americans raised eating typical American foods to go to Italy and love Italian food. The animals-and different parts of animals-used in food here take some time to adjust to eating. The food's excellent, it just sounds really bizarre to us. When I asked one of Stephanie's friends about it, she said American food seems just as weird to them. When I think about it, I know what's in pig's blood. I don't have any clue what, exactly, is in my hamburger.
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