taiwanese food cleanliness is lacking, i agree. but unless you want to starve you must get over it. I did htis by telling myself, and it is true, that all processed foods in western countries are easily as dirty. doritos source their corn from where? some big factory that have rat nests in the silos. its just reality…unless you eat very fresh and get it from the source, humans are jsut dirtier than we care to admit, in any country. Taiwan just wears this on the outside, where is western countries there is some kind of effort to hide it, but it is still in existence.
personally i am a sucker for the fried chick/yam fry combo. and maybe a couple other thing is feel like at the time. From what i see of markets around here, as tehy are only once a week usually, they are more a fun community get together than a go buy something. its the atmosphere, which i find people here like…and people here tend to enjoy crowds more than empty areas…very hard for me to get used to when i first landed here.
Taiwanese fruit is spectacular (despite the amount of chemicals used to grow it), but i hate that pre prepared night market boxed fruit…old and stale and dirtier. day markets buying whole fruit are not only better and fresher, but way cheaper. $20/jin for mangos, $15/jin Lychee…only in day markets as far as i can tell.
perhaps one of my most favorite things about taiwan night markets is i can crack a beer and wander around chatting to people without getting shit and just having an all around good time. there are no negative vibes in a night market unless you choose to make them. its a happy fun place, and everyone goes there for that reason it seems
so many differnet things, yet they all have so much in common.
). There are some things that are ok, like dumplings, or that roasted corn, or that soup thing that Shi-da is famous for. The only thing I’m excited to eat is mango ice, and that’s only available during the summer. I guess the stalls with foreign food can also be interesting, but they’re pretty rare outside of Taipei. I do appreciate the convenience of some night markets - I live close to Gongguan, and the nightmarket is open later than many restaurants, so I have been there occasionally. And they’re a cheap place to just get a plate of fried rice or a bowl of noodles or something, which can be useful. But 90% of my nightmarket visits are because the Taiwanese that I’m eating with want to go there for dinner. Maybe 5% are because I happen upon one when I’m hungry, and remaining 5% are on purpose.