Taiwanese cuisine

To be pedantic, there are several cuisines in Taiwan. In addition to the following representative dishes from the Ho-lo ethnicity (see Taiwanese language), there are also aboriginal, Hakka, and local derivatives of Chinese cuisines (one famous example of the last is beef noodle soup = niurou mian = gu-bah mi).

Famous dishes in each of the main cities
Taichung
Sun cake is the most noted food in Taichung.

Tainan
There are pork foot, tann-ah noodle, shrimp cookie and so on.

Exemplar dishes
jiu-hi ken (youyu geng = 魷魚羹) - Soup with cuttlefish wrapped in fish paste.
o-ah-chian (kezaijian = 蚵仔煎) - Omelet made with tiny oysters.
o-ah mi-soan(kezai mianxian = 蚵仔麵線) - thin noodle with tiny oysters.
oh peng (yu bing = 芋仔冰) - a dessert made of frozen taro root paste.
ai-giok peng (aiyu bing = 愛玉冰) - a dessert made of some kind of jello or agar served on ice.
Boba nai cha - Boba milk tea.
o· bi-go (hei migao = 黑米糕) - rice in blood curd.
lo·-bah png (lurou fan = 魯肉飯) - a piece of fatty pork served on rice.
sian-chhau (xiancao) - Mesona procumbens Hemsley
Many of the non-dessert dishes are usually considered snacks, not entrees; that is, they have a similar status to the Cantonese dim sum or the Spanish tapas. Such dishes are usually only slightly salted, with lots of vegetables along with the main meat (or seafood) item.

Vegetarian restaurants are commonplace with a wide variety of dishes.

Taiwanese people also eat a lot of fruit, both local and imported.

Night market snacks
Taiwan's best-known snacks are present in the night markets. Chou doufu (fermented 'smelly' tofu) is one example; intimidating at first but can be an acquired taste. In these markets, one can also find delicious fried and steamed meat-filled buns, oyster-filled omelets, refreshing fruit ices, and much more.