Eating My Way Through Taiwan Part 3: Even Bad Food Is Good Food

Say you get the munchies walking around Taipei. You wouldn't stop by the McDonald's - right? Isn't it just full of stuff you could get in the States? No, no. It has the amazing rice burger!

The bun is made of rice, fried into a patty - the perfect complement to teriyaki chicken or fried shrimp burger!

Or, say you walk by one of a million 7-Eleven's (which, by the way, is a Japanese company, not American - I didn't know this til recently). Just terrible pre-packaged foods, right? No!

You can buy fresh steamed buns! At a 7-Eleven! What's more, you can choose from a plethora of drinks - it's all about drink variety, anywhere you go in Asia.

There's all the usual sodas we have in the States but add onto that juice drinks of every tropical fruit and dairy and yogurt drink you could imagine. And tea drinks - a million kinds.

Finally, there's a mini-street market behind the hotel in Taipei we stayed at ("The Leofoo" - like "The Peninsula," only not so glamorous) and there is a most amazing hole in the wall shop that serves pork knuckes like you've never had them. And tofu - stewed all day long in lovely meaty juices. It is to die for. And sooooo bad for you. There is pork fat in the rice! And the shop sells out of pork knuckles at 6:30pm so you've gotta get there early and stand in line!

I need to go eat something now.

To be continued...next time, esoteric foods. Kind of.