Taiwanese cuisines have several variations. Pork, seafood, rice and soy are very common ingredients. Beef is far less common, and some Taiwanese (particularly the elderly generation) still refrain from eating it. In many of their dishes, the Taiwanese have shown their creativity in their selection of spices. Taiwanese cuisines relies on an abundant array of seasonings for flavor; soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, fermented black beans, pickled daikon, pickled mustard greens, peanuts, chili peppers, cilantro and a local variety of basil (九層塔 literally meaning “nine story pagoda”). The resulting dishes thus combine and form interesting tastes which make Taiwanese cuisine simple in format yet complex in experience.

蚵仔麵線 is an oyster vermicelli, a thickened soup containing oysters and Chinese vermicelli. An alternative is which oysters are substituted with small segments of a pig’s large intestines.

Ba-wan (肉圓) is famous in Changhua and literally means “meat circle”. It is a Taiwanese snack food, consisting of a 6-8 cm diameter disk-shaped translucent dough filled with a savory stuffing and served with a sweet and savory sauce. They are a kind of large dumpling made from a gelatinous dough and stuffed with pork and vegetables, most commonly mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The gelatinous dough is made of a combination of corn starch, sweet potato starch and rice flour, which gives it its chewy and sticky texture.

魷魚羹 is a thickened soup with cuttlefish covered in fish paste.

蚵仔煎 is an oyster omelet made with eggs, oysters, potato starch and garland chrysanthemum leaves. It has a soft, sticky, texture and is eaten with a sweet and mildly spicy sauce.

滷肉飯 is minced, cubed or ground fatty pork, stewed in soy sauce and spices, then served on rice.

Scallion pancakes (蔥油餅) are flour pancakes with many thin layers, made with chopped green onions.

Wife’s Cake (老婆餅) is a traditional Chinese pastry with flaky and thin skin made with winter melon, almond paste, and sesame, and spiced with five spice powder.

Suncake (太陽餅) is the most noted pastries in Taichung. It is a popular Taiwanese dessert. It is a baked layered puff pastry with a sweet center often made with honey or molasses.