How My Night Market Experience Has Changed Over the Years
When I was a kid, going to the night market with my family meant playing games and eating all kinds of delicious food. One of my favorites was Taiwanese popcorn chicken (鹽酥雞).
At a typical popcorn chicken stall, you’ll see trays of semi-prepared ingredients laid out for you to choose from. In addition to chicken, there is also squid, tempura fish cakes, rice blood cake, vegetables, among other things.
The vendor stands behind a big pot of hot oil. You get a pair of tongs and a small basket, pick whatever you want, then hand the basket over to the vendor.
They fry everything, cut it into bite-sized pieces with scissors, and put it into a paper bag. Before handing it over, they’ll usually ask if you want spicy powder, then add plenty of salt and pepper.
And then there’s the magic ingredient: Thai basil (九層塔). It takes the whole thing to another level. As I’m writing this, my mouth is literally watering.
Even after I moved to the U.S. as a teenager, that craving never went away. For many years, whenever I went back to Taiwan, visiting a night market and getting popcorn chicken was what I especially looked forward to.
But at some point, my relationship with night market food began to change.
When I was pregnant with my son, my sense of smell became extremely sensitive. I remember visiting a night market in Kaohsiung and walking past stall after stall. It didn’t matter what they were cooking. All I could smell was grease.
Every stall smelled the same to me.
That was the first time night market food stopped being exciting to me. Even after I gave birth and my sense of smell went back to normal, the excitement never came back.
On top of that, as I got older, I started paying more attention to my health and eating less fried food in general. Since so much night market food is fried, I gradually stopped going as often.
But this is just my own experience.
Night markets are still a big part of Taiwanese food culture, and I completely understand why so many visitors want to experience one.
Nowadays, if friends invite me now, I’ll still go. I enjoy the atmosphere and being part of something that feels so familiar and so Taiwanese. I’m just more selective about what I eat than I used to be.
If you’re visiting Taiwan for the first time, I would absolutely say: go to a night market. Take it all in. Try the food. See what you like.
And while you’re here, keep exploring Taiwan’s food beyond the night markets. There are neighborhood restaurants, breakfast shops, bakeries, traditional markets, small local eateries, and so many great foods that may never appear on a typical night market list.
If you are interested in learning more about night market alternatives in Taipei, click here.
