Buying ingredients in Taiwan

[cteavin]

Hi,

I'm going to Taiwan for two weeks from this Saturday. I would love to start preparing more Chinese foods at home, so I was hoping to put together a shopping list for the Taiwanese supermarkets. What are good deals there, what's available there that's harder to find outside Asia, what are some essentials I should stock up on while there?

Also, if anyone can recommend a high quality cookware shop in Taipei or recommend a good quality wok, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,

Steven

[threestars]

How is your Taiwan tour? Never been in Taiwan but I guess you can ask people there where to shop for good ingredients. Good luck on your tour and enjoy Taiwan! Share some experiences or food pictures that you can collect there.

[cteavin]

Just got back.

I discovered that Taiwanese food uses basically the same ingredients as Chinese and so the prices where I am were in many cases about the same, so I couldn't justify filling up my luggage with food products. There were a couple of sauces (like XO) that made into my shopping cart, and teas, but not much else.

I've been all over Asia and I didn't like the (Chinese) foods in Taiwan as much as in, say, Shanghai or Hong Kong -- or even India (Indian Chinese food is a real treat, if you ever get a chance to try it). I'm going to assume it's because we couldn't read the menu and didn't find the 'right' restaurants. Funny thing, the Stinky Tofu we had in Beijing rocked but I couldn't get into in Taiwan and we went with some new local friends to their favorite place. The night markets were a good place to try lots of different things; the restaurants were plentiful but never that special to me. Still, Taiwan is one of may new favorite places in Asia because the people are genuine and kind.

About wok's, I did eventually find one from ASD, a non-stick that felt good in my hand. I think I'll by a cast iron on my next trip to China, too.