Taipei: Traditional Markets

Going to a Taiwanese tradtional market can be an overwhelming experience. A hodgepode of vendors line a stretch of street on both sides, jampacked close to one another. Each person only has a little bit of space, but everything is sold here including produce, purses, housewares, flowers, you name it and it can probably be found somehwere. There are so many people visitng the market during the day that people don't walk through it, they push through it. Additionally, the street the market is on does not seem to be closed, and the occasional motorcyclist and car will join the morass as well. Vendors loudly advertise their products and prices, while customers add to the volume with their bargaining. Everything here seem straight from the earth: entirely fresh and a little dirty.

Traditional Market

The meat markets made the biggest impression on me mostly because it was kind of grotesque. The smell of a meat market is raw with an undertone of rot, and the sight of dead carcass is everywhere. What's particuarly special about the meat markets here is the dead animal is still entirely recognizable. This isn't the meat section at your American grocery store, where meat is cut, pressed, and packaged in saran wrap. Here beaks, hooves, and guts are everywhere you turn. Pork was the star of this meat market, and every part of the pig was on display. Pig legs with black or pink hooves lined the tables, while other pig parts hung from hooks above: gleaming white pig fat, intestines stretched out by the weight of heavy coils, and half dissected pig tails with a few stiff hairs sprouting from the very tips. I was also impressed by the butcher who was eating a steamed bun (with pork in it undoubtedly) amidst this pig massacre, seemingly unbothered by the sights and smells of decaying flesh around him.

Great Big Pork Intestines

I think about the meat market briefly while eating a sweet potato pork bun for lunch. However, instead of smelling like decaying meat, the buns smell like savory deliciousness. And instead of looking like a high school dissection project, the buns are round and harmless covered in chili sauce. Mmm, pork!

Sweet Potato Pork Buns