TAIWAN: Taipei Night Market-Stinky tofu– YUK!!
March 23, 2008Exotic Foods at the Night Market in Taipei
Night markets are popular places to spend the night wandering past food stalls selling all sorts of meat, fish, tofu and food that I can not identify. Thousands of people flock to these night markets to spend time with their friends.
I got stuck in crowds that did not move. It’s a good thing I am not claustrophobic. The Taiwanese have a signature dish called “stinky tofu” that has the most vile smell I have ever found in a food. The problem is that they love this food and it’s omnipresent at the night market. Not only is it everywhere, but its stench invades the senses. Being squashed between throngs of people and having to inhale this most disgusting of aromas is punishment. What did I do to deserve this castigation, I do not know. The food should be banned, like durians are on public buses and hotels in some parts of Asia.
Seeking refuge from the reek of the stinky tofu, I gravitated to the fruit stand and bought myself a bag of guava, only to find myself then stuck between the fruit seller and the stinky tofu cart. I could not move. A man was moving something in between the two merchants and I could not walk in any direction. I looked at my bag of inviting green fruit and wanted so bad to eat it but I knew its pleasant flavor would be tarnished by the stench of the neighboring food from hell.
Taiwan is a very densely populated country, about 23 million people reside on the island. While I was inching through the market looking for an escape route via an alleyway all I could think of is: birth control. This place is too crowded. They need to limit the population. The next day, I left for Hong Kong and was stifled by the extreme crowded nature of the city. Cities are not for me. Nor is stinky tofu.