Even though Taipei is often considered one of the most vegan-friendly places in Asia, the country’s offerings often aren’t obvious nor clear-cut for someone who doesn’t know Chinese, much less a first time visitor who only has four days in the city and wants to get on with their sightseeing without being constantly worried about accidentally ingesting or purchasing something that contains animal products.
Even though Jesse Duffield, author of the e-book Taipei in 4 Days: A Travel Guide for Vegans lauds Taiwan’s strict labeling policies, vegetarian-friendly attitudes and abundance of meatless options, he also details the difficulties of trying to follow a strict vegan diet here. Language barriers aside, many restaurants claim to serve vegan food but actually serve egg and milk products, and often the wait staff themselves don’t know the difference between veganism and vegetarianism.
Consider this entry on Minder Vegetarian (明德素食園): “Contrary to claims made by staff and even on their Web site, it’s not all vegan.” Duffield also mentions the existence of “completely vegetarian restaurants” that are “almost completely non-vegan.”
That’s where this book comes in handy, guiding the reader from how to read the food labeling system to recommending where to get vegan food and which destinations you should bring your own lunch because of the lack of options.
Duffield says he has personally visited every restaurant and location, and from his writing you can tell that he’s lived in Taiwan for an extended period of time.
Although the book teaches its readers the Chinese characters for “vegetarian food” before they learn how to say ni hao, knowing your vegan ins and outs isn’t enough to survive in Taipei.
Duffield provides detailed information such as transportation, hotels, postal services, safety, shopping, the mess of the country’s Romanization systems (to go to Chinan Temple you have to get off at Zhinan Station) and even how to use Taiwan’s ATMs, which can be very confusing at first.
There’s a sprinkling of vegan info here and there — such as where to get vegan food at the airport or while you’re shopping for electronics at Guanghua Market (光華商場).
There’s also an extensive history and religion section, and of course, every book written about Taiwan must at least try to explain the dreaded complicated political history of the nation, which isn’t an easy task.
Duffield does a decent job here – his overview is a bit confusing at first, but it gets the point across that Taiwan is a de facto independent country and explains the Republic of China’s existence well. The politics are better explained later with separate entries on the various entities and figures that have contributed to the current situation. Some sections, especially the final part about Taiwan and former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) relationship with Japan may be too in-depth for a guidebook.
The religion/spiritual group section is viewed in a vegetarian/vegan context, as we learn interesting tidbits. For example, if a vegetarian restaurant serves egg products, it’s likely run by followers of I Kuan Tao (一貫道).
On to the tours, which are divided into four outings in different parts of Taipei and New Taipei City. The suggested itineraries combine sightseeing and eating, and has detailed information including recommended visiting times before going into detail about each location. Each general area is followed by vegan dining options nearby, all of which would show up on a customized map which links to Google Maps, making navigation easy. The use of the color of the MRT line while referring to each station is also a clever touch.
The destinations are well-researched and interspersed with bits of vegan information, such as how the rhino horn displays in the National Palace Museum come with a warning about not supporting the trade of endangered animals, and a discussion on whether stinky tofu is vegan or not.
The restaurant descriptions are very helpful — they tell the reader what’s vegan, what to avoid, what atmosphere to expect, whether the staff is knowledgeable about veganism, and so on.
One problem with the tours is the organization of the entries — it takes a while to get used to as each section is organized differently, and some food options accompany the destination while others are grouped into a dining section after the general area sight listings. However, it’s mostly because of the layout. Every section and subsection uses a very similar black serif title font, which makes it hard to distinguish at first whether the reader is still in the restaurant section or has moved on to the next tour area. Also, some of the photographs are too dark, and they could all be larger or more graphically appealing within the page. While it is a practical e-book, it’s just not very pretty to look at — somewhat disappointing for a book about food.
Overall, the book gets the job done as a comprehensive tool for the visiting vegan. For those who want to travel beyond Taipei, Duffield is in the process of updating the earlier and more extensive version of this book, Taiwan, a Travel Guide for Vegans, which covers northern Taiwan and Taroko Gorge.
May 11 to May 17 Traversing the southern slopes of the Yushan Range in 1931, Japanese naturalist Tadao Kano knew he was approaching the last swath of Taiwan still beyond colonial control. The “vast, unknown territory,” protected by the “fierce” Bunun headman Dahu Ali, was “filled with an utterly endless jungle that choked the mountains and valleys,” Kano wrote. He noted how the group had “refused to submit to the measures of our authorities and entrenched themselves deep in these mountains … living a free existence spent chasing deer in the morning and seeking serow in the evening,” even describing them as
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
What government project has expropriated the most land in Taiwan? According to local media reports, it is the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, eating 2,500 hectares of land in its first phase, with more to come. Forty thousand people are expected to be displaced by the project. Naturally that enormous land grab is generating powerful pushback. Last week Chen Chien-ho (陳健和), a local resident of Jhuwei Borough (竹圍) in Taoyuan City’s Dayuan District (大園) filed a petition for constitutional review of the project after losing his case at the Taipei Administrative Court. The Administrative Court found in favor of nine other local landowners, but
RSS