Older Taiwanese foodies I meet are always constantly telling me how good the restaurant food in Taiwan used to be 20+ years ago.
1 Like
But the average is super cheap, so… 
Taiwan is weird - cheap in many areas, while having money, so costs aren’t cheap enough all around compared to countries that are poor to have really good food at the dirt cheap prices that average food costs.
What hotel, and who’s claiming it’s a 5 star hotel? seems like kind of by definition, if it’s that bad, it wasn’t a 5 star hotel then, no?
I wasn’t here before the past couple years, so here’s a more educated opinion that says, actually, yes
8 times since 1988, eh? I’ve been there 8 times since…2017? I’ll be back at the end of the year. Maybe I’ll rise back to more educated than len at that point.
The average was super cheap in other countries I have lived for as long as I lived in Taiwan, and all of those countries had WAAAY better food.
Doesn’t matter
You can argue yourself in circles all you want, the fact is the food here is pretty awful. Not just the cheap food.
The consensus seems to be that it used to be better, and I can accept that. But I live here now. Come live in Kaohsiung for a few years, and then we can talk
1 Like
Yea, but I bet that was generally poorer countries. Cheap in poorer countries gets you better than cheap in richer countries.
Totally matters. Many claims of “5 star hotels” that aren’t actually that high end.
old.people always think shit was better back in the day.
1 Like
2 were. But still, doesn’t matter because price is an artificial variable here. Cheap or expensive, the food was better there than it is here
I’m sure the 5 star restaurants here are inflated that’s kinda my point.
You said the problem was people eating cheap food, and they definitely charged 5 star prices.
Like, back in the day when you were actually eating in Taiwan, up to 20 years ago?
well, yes this is the point. balance. as many people here live relatively unhealthy life styles, including dehydration, excess sodium is not great. I am going to start a new thread and tag you. I am very much interested in going in depth in this as Ithink everyone can make dietary/lifestyle improvements. I certainly am hoping to. I will edit this post with a link once I do.
As not to steer this thread too far off topic on shitting.on taiwanese food 
That just means 3 times out of 5 you have made bad choices But yes, I agree, many restaraunts in tiawan serve slop. That doesnt equate to taiwanese food being slop, that’s my only point 
when enough people make better choices, economics dictates an improvement in any given industry. Good reason we discuss openly on forums, facebook a like websites to broaden the scope and conversation. I feel the cuisine has a solid quality. the production is where the issues lie.
on this note:
and…
there are valid points on both ends granted I havent been here since WW2, but decades. full time. and in industry both supply chain and developing varieties and recipes for companies. I have noticed an drastically huge improvement in Taiwan.
without getting into specifics or sides. these are the main points I feel strongly just in my experiences here:
The taiwanese (in this case I mean Han people, not aboriginal nor non-Han immigrants specifically) have exceptional palates. there are some truly fucked up food designs here, but they are far ahead of their game.
There is a very obvious difference in genetics when it comes to taste. I havent done a paper on it, but have collected evidence in the most basic of senses. and this is over many years with tens of thousands of people. a hint, get various groups of white people, especially UK dominant american/canadians to test different chili vs the various asian races here. there are actually huge differences in spice level…blanking on the term. sensitivity perhaps, but also perception. out taste buds and/or connections are vastly different in something as “simple” as heat from chilis based on fairly loose simple variety selection. very observable
taiwanese (han) really enjoy strong flavor. I. mandarin, it is commonly said oj the daily. just the norm. and yet they also commonly say shit in north america is so sweet. very easy to notice why, as we see in this very thread. taiwanese have a much more advanced taste bud than use white north americans. generally speaking. they pick up fone details much easier and appreciate them far more. north american fare tends to over do things. as ler this thread, my examples would be sweet and savory. the sweets in north america are next level sweet. growing up with that, and I assume genetics, allows that to work. here in Taiwan, things are toned down and balanced more. Interestingly, the white north americans, like myself, have long complained about things like cheese and milk being sweet in Taiwan. it is no secret that in north america sweets are ramped up to 100. whereas you cna actually buy bread without sugar there (note, I feel Taiwan has improved 10 fold in recent years and high quality foreign foods are now quite available, especially with more modern day delivery logistics).
In Taiwan,my issues is, everything adds sugar and.sodium and incorrect balance. I find food here too sweet and too “salty” more often than not. that said, unwanted a steak salty. frankly, I am with @TT on how taiwanese like softer undercooked things more. but that issue goes deeper, not just taste but also dental hygiene and other factors. frankly, I want meat not bloody. my reason is both personal preference in tooth feel but also gut biota and related issues. I noticed quite severely how my taste in food changed the longer I stayed and my body’s species have changed out. but that’s a different thing.
either way, the issue I see so often is like here. people from say the USA feel food here isnt salty or sweet enough not really understanding they are getting enough of that stuff because everything here usually has it added. raw foods excluded. and people are so used to using their tongue to judge how much salt they should take in, or sugar, or whatever, that they ignore the actual body response to what is truly needed. just wanted. more like cravings. I get them too, but just learned to shut down cravings in preference for what I think my body needs. and that’s why we are discussing it because out tongues lie to us in different ways.
better we tell the tongue what to want rather than the tongue tell the brain what to “need”.
Edit:
we can move the too much/too little sodium debate here if folks are game, in order not to disrupt this thread too much from the taste/cuisine type aspect of food.
On kidney and other organ issues in Taiwan. With emphasis on diet
Fruit yogurt is something I used to enjoy, but it’s a little sweet sometimes so I don’t eat it much anymore. Sometimes I get a craving
And every brand I have tried so far here has fake fruit in the form of gelatin chunks. Or is it bonus gelatin?
I don’t know, but fruit yogurt is another thing on the long list of food that sucks (for me)
I think the Costco yogurt and some others are ok.
The unexpected gelatin chunks are an oversight I’ve only made once or twice (I mostly use yogurt to make smoothies). 
1 Like
As Wei puts it, there’s a minimalism about Taiwanese food that she both cherishes and appreciates, which bridges the historic, storied cuisine with the ease of a weeknight meal: “If you can whip up an entire meal with just a wok, knife, soy sauce and sugar,” she states.
That sentence is incomplete, but what’s she making on weeknights? Warm sweet soy sauce?
2 Likes
Minimal flavor, minimal texture, minimal satisfaction…
Some meat, vegetables, and rice would be nice sometimes
3 Likes
I found an interview of the author about the book!
6 Likes
You don’t need to eat everywhere, you just need to eat somewhere. The key is finding the good guys.
Guy
1 Like
Whenever I watch cooking shows here they typically don’t use woks, but those Japanese style non stick pans that are slightly more curved than a regular fry pan. Come to think of it, most households I’ve seen here use those non stick pans too.
I know where the “good guys” are. But the best in TW is just mediocre by global standards. The standards here need to be raised, it’s not proportional to the wealth in the country. This applies not just to food sadly.
Furthermore it’s tough to get decent ingredients here. Most things are pretty crap or extremely expensive if good quality. I will say that the pork and chicken are very good. You win some you lose some (in this case, too much of the later and too little of the former).
Don’t forget minimal amount in money spent, and minimal effort to get “close enough”
Very debatable and really depends which cuisine u r referring to.
Had many excellent Italian, French and Spanish meals here. Yeah, not 3 stars level, but that’s not what I was looking for.
2 Likes
Then patronize them and / or adjust what you’re looking for. Example: I will not eat Fujianese derived foods in Taipei, as it is almost uniformly terrible. I will however support excellent outfits like Sandy Yoon’s various ventures as well as some of the excellent and affordable pizzerias noted by @Mataiou in the Best Pizza in Taipei thread. This place is not Toronto, it’s not Guangzhou, it requires a different approach.
Guy
1 Like