Tuesday's Taiwanism - {Taiwanese Grocery Store}

Food! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read my blog to know that I love am obsessed with eating and trying new foods {no shame, a girls gotta eat!} And, to make matters even worse (or better?! I guess it depends on how you look at it!) while I am traveling there is even MORE new foods for me to try...score!

While traveling to a new place I love spending time perusing a local grocery store. I feel as though you can learn so much about the culture and their eating habits and customs by seeing what they purchase and what they stock their shelves with. Needless to say, I have spent more time than I'd like to admit checking out countless grocery stores here in Taiwan as well! In the last 10 months I have truly fallen in love with Taiwanese food {except for you stinky tofu...you're a whole other ballgame buddy!} and love the opportunity to try new foods almost daily.

Today I have some pictures of one of my most recent trips to the grocery store focusing mainly on the produce section {you'll see why!} Although after nearly a year I'm in my routine now of typically purchasing my staple grocery items, it's still fun to check out the new produce and snacky isles and grab something I've never tried before to see what else Taiwan has to offer me!

What other sections of a typical Taiwanese grocery store are you interested in seeing next time, let me know!

(PS - I promise I'm not a terrible photographer! I put my hand in several of these pictures for a size comparison!)

A popular type of eggplant in Taiwan called "Chinese Eggplant". As you can see they are very long and super skinny. They taste almost identical to Western eggplants, but with less seeds. 

These mushrooms are called "Enoki Mushrooms" they are teeny and noodle like once cooked and popular in many dishes here. I suppose if I was a fan of mushrooms I'd like these tiny guys a little more!

Some type of gourd plant. I clearly have no idea what this is but had never seen one before, they were quite heavy!

"Bamboo shoots"! A staple in every Asian dish!! I used to like these, but since moving to Taiwan I love them even more!

I tried to google translate on the sign for these monsters and it wasn't much help. It appears to be a root like vegetable with a dry potato texture.

And here we have 2 vegetables...again 0 help here, but seriously, where do all these crazy vegetables come from and how are there so many different vegetables in the world!