Food – The Good and the… different
Of course coming to Taiwan, I knew that things would be different from what we eat to how we eat it and even a little bit when we eat it. I talk about some obvious things like utensils and different spices that are more common but also things that I never expected like how people in Taiwan drink their water and what it means for me being a vegetarian here. This is fun because I am just started a unit with my 7th grade students about the main differences I have noticed in regards to dining in America versus what I’ve seen in Taiwan. Those differences are: eating a meal, vegetables, desserts, drinking water, dairy, utensils, animals bones, street food, and spices at the table. I will talk about each one in this post. My favorite thing about this was the MANY questions that this lesson prompted from the kids and their reactions of genuine shock and excitement.
#1 Eating a Meal
In America, especially when going out to a restaurant, you order your food and you get an individually plated meal. The phrase “Joey doesn’t share food!!” comes to mind and I honestly sometimes agree. I am not a “sharing food” kind of person and I like to have what I ordered. You eat what you ordered. That being said, I have done hotpot a few times since coming to Taiwan and it has been a very enjoyable experience. Hotpot is very popular in Taiwan and China because of it’s ability to bring people together where they can comfortably talk and have a good meal. And know this: if someone in an Asian country asks you to hotpot, know that it will not be a quick engagement. Ya’ll be there a hot second, but nevertheless, it’s always a good time.
#2 Vegetables
If you are someone that craves some good raw veggies or a fresh salad like me, you are sadly a little out of luck in an Asian country, especially in this smaller town we live in in Taiwan. Every vegetable is cooked and probably also every part of that vegetable will be found in a Bento Box served with their vegetarian “meat”. There is a lot of “fake meat” here and whether or not it is actually NOT meat I guess can be up to someone who actually wants to investigate that fuller, but for me, I don’t like the taste or texture so I’ll stick to my rice and steamed spinach leaves that are always just a little too wet.
So obviously the difference is that we like some of our raw veggies. I know I sure do! At any get together or holiday party, I’m always the first to dart for that veggie tray, and in Taiwan, you would never see that. During my lesson, this prompted kids to ask me if I eat yams raw, and I said “no, of course!” but they didn’t see the difference between that and eating raw carrots, so okay, point taken.
#3 Desserts
If you have any kind of sweet tooth, you are SUPER out of luck in Taiwan. A lot of desserts are made with “red/green bean paste” and MAYBE with a dusting of sugar, but that’s it. The students would probably be mortified to see how much sugar I use when I do my holiday baking when in the states. Maybe that’s why everyone is so skinny and fit here? Probably 😅 The only things that I found are sweet here are the bread and the cheese… which just… why. Also, you read that correctly, red bean. Beans. In your dessert. Living here has never made me want a burrito more. I have on more than one occasion told Anthony, “I would kill a man for some Qdoba right now”…. not even kidding. 😉
#4 Drinking Water
People in Asian countries drink hot or warm water. Like all the time. A lot of students got a little upset, thinking that I was implying that they don’t EVER drink cold water, but when I clarified that Americans ALWAYS drink cold water, they understood. This point prompted so many questions. “You even drink it NOW?” (now being their “Autumn” when the temperature only gets to 80 degrees rather than 100 during the day) yes. “What about when you are sick???” yes. “What about if you just have a baby???” yes. “TEACHER EMMA WHHHAAAT???” Yes. Teacher Emma always wants ice cold water. Wǒ yào bīng shuǐ. Always. I guess doctors here advise against drinking cold water for a lot of different aliments. Out of everything we talked about in class, this had them literally shook the most. I loved it.
This is a very Western thing and although some of my students have been switching to drinking cold water, I still see some of the older teachers here filling up their water bottles with specifically room temperature water from the water dispenser when it’s like 90+ degree outside. Why.
#5 Dairy
I love cheese. I’m from Wisconsin so to not love cheese would just not make any sense and if I want to fully enjoy a Packer game, I better come with my Cheese Head in clutch. But in Taiwan and other Asian countries, the lack of cheese is noticeable. There are some familiar pizza chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut and it does “scratch the itch”, but really, it’s got nothing on my cheese back home. I really miss a good slice of pepper jack on a sandwich with a side of mac&cheese and some Chile con queso dip. A student asked me if I would eat a piece of cheese right out of the fridge at home… of course I would. We have beer cheese soup where I’m from for Pete’s sake and although I know that it is a Midwest invention, I know that my fellow Americans would feel a little strange in this position. I want my cheese.
I should also tell you that one of my students asked me if our cheese cake is a dessert and when I said “yes” and showed them the picture below, they freaked. We really love our cheese and sugar and fat and calories in America. As we should.
#6 Utensils
This one is a very obvious difference and one that you would already know before even coming to a foreign country. They eat things with different utensils, yes, but what I learned is that chopsticks are used for EVERYTHING. They are your fork and your knife (and your mouth is sometimes your spoon). Because of this, a lot of food is cut into smaller pieces to accommodate for the method of eating the food. What I thought was so sweet was one of my students asked if I would take chopsticks back to America with me and teach others how to use them, which then led me to have to explain to them about the mass amounts of Chinese restaurants and the fact that I came to Taiwan already knowing how to use chopsticks. One student brought out their chopsticks from their backpack (because all students and teachers bring their our dishes for lunch here) to demonstrate so when I picked up an eraser from off of a desk, they all cheered. Sometimes this job is pretty awesome.
#7 Vegetarian Diet
Like I have said in previous post, I am a vegetarian (technically a pescatarian because I do eat a limited amount of seafood like crab, salmon, and raw fish when I eat sushi). Even being a vegetarian in this country is totally different but that makes sense – unlike Americans, other cultures alter their diets a lot to meet the needs set by their religious practices or to do what their doctor told them. That being said, this difference has thrown me for a loop since I’ve been here. Vegetarians here do not eat eggs (which I can understand), onions, or garlic. Onions or garlic. What? Yes.
I still don’t FULLY understand, so please let Master Sheng Yen explain. Some it has to do with sexual desire which… I mean, if someone has garlic breath… I can’t even make a joke about that here. That’s nasty! As for me, give me the onions and garlic because I want the flavors please.
#8 Animal Bones
You order the fish? You are getting the whole fish, I promise. You better be careful you won’t have a throat full of bones when you’re chewing though. I think for a lot of Americans this may also just be off-putting to see the entire fish from the sea on your plate, eyes and all. When I showed students pictures of a fish you might order in a restaurant back in America, they all told me that they thought that was only for the rich and fancy people. Maybe Americans are just wimps? But I wouldn’t want to spend the majority of meal picking the bones out of my teeth that I missed initially with my fork.
Anthony has also told me that the chicken he orders is full of bones but very different from the “bone-in” chicken wings that we see in America. I will have to take his word for it though considering I’ve never experienced it.
#9 Street Food
I want to say right away that I think that street food here is just so much more common (since most restaurants are small stands anyway) that when I asked the students if they knew the Chinese word for “street food”, they were a little stumped. This is just how they get a lot of their food. It’s true: from the local stands selling Anthony’s favorite breakfast Dan Bing to the many Night Markets you’ll see in every town and city you go to in Taiwan, there are plenty of places to satisfy that craving for food truck food or “street meat”. What I find interesting is that despite the American joke of “deep fried Twinkie… ON A STICK!”, things here really all do come on a stick. Maybe I’m wrong in saying this, but despite the obviously corn-dog or Popsicle, we eat most of this food with our hands.
I believe that most of our food just lends itself to eating with your hands though. From burgers and fries, to cotton candy, nachos, chips, sandwiches, burritos and even ice cream cones, utensils or toothpicks are not really required to having a delicious meal from a truck or pop-up at the local Fair. And seriously, even the “American” food they sell here like french fries comes with a stick so that you don’t have to get your hands dirty. Seriously.
#10 Spices at the Table
This one was also very obvious to my students because this is just the spices that are most appropriate with their food. I again had to tell them that soy sauce, sesame seeds, and vinegar will appear at the table of any Chinese or Japanese restaurant in America, but if we are talking classic diner or the newly popularized “Gaustropubs” popping up everywhere, you will most likely find the ketchup, mustard, (maybe hot sauce), and salt and pepper. Most students knew what these things were along with the Chinese names for everything, really showing me how much of an impact the Western world is having on these Asian countries.
Well that’s it for this time! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but honestly, moving to a new country especially for a job that you are just getting your feet wet with is super crazy and everything you do every day comes at you with a thousand challenges. I finally just learned how to appropriately get my black coffee from my local OK Mart without looking like a dummy when they ask me 20 follow-up questions in the most rapid Chinese I have ever heard. But this means I’m learning! There have even been a few times where I have been able to order food WITHOUT Anthony!!! I’m proud of myself.
As far as food, this lesson also had us looking at the differences and similarities to restaurants in America and Taiwan because we do have some chains in common. The top six I’ve seen are Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, and Subway (Subway is in Taichung and bigger cities only). When students asked me why, I had to tell them because of course America had them first and then they came on over to make money. I will probably talk about American chains in Taiwan in a different post… is that something that you’d like to see? Let me know! What differences would you like me to talk about while in this crazy, strange, amazing, strange, breath-taking place?
Until next time (hopefully sooner this time), this has been,
Emma Eiden, An ESL Teacher Abroad ✌
An ESL Teacher Abroad 