Taiwanese are very proud of their food. The first thing your Taiwanese friends will do is make sure you try all the popular local dishes. Taiwanese friendliness and hospitality go hand-in-hand with their food culture. Unfortunately, not everyone can experience Taiwanese food. But there are some great Taiwanese cookbooks that have all of the local recipes.
Table of Contents
The Food Of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island
The Food Of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island is an easy-to-read and follow Taiwanese cookbook. The book has all the popular dishes found in Taiwan. Including Taiwan’s national dish, beef noodles.
The introduction gives a nice background on Taiwan and its food culture. If you have never been to Taiwan, this is a great introduction to the importance of food in Taiwanese culture. It also includes incredibly beautiful photography of Taiwanese food and its people.
If you have been to Taiwan, then this book will hit you with a sense and maybe smell of nostalgia about your time in Taiwan.
Home-Style Taiwanese Cooking: Family Favourites • Classic Street Foods • Popular Snacks
Home-Style Taiwanese Cooking: Family Favourites • Classic Street Foods • Popular Snacks is by a Taiwanese chef and food blogger. This newer cookbook includes a lot of popular street foods that are found in Taiwan’s night markets. I’ve written a list of the most popular street foods in Taiwan here. This cookbook even has the recipe for the super popular sweet potato balls.
A lot of my favorite dishes are found in this recipe book. It includes pictures with each recipe and for some recipes, step-by-step photos. If you purchase this book I would recommend trying the oyster omelet. It is one of my favorite snacks to get at the night markets here.
Mama Lieu’s Kitchen: A Cookbook Memoir of Delicious Taiwanese and Chinese Home Cooking for My Children
Part history, part cookbook, Mama Lieu’s Kitchen: A Cookbook Memoir of Delicious Taiwanese and Chinese Home Cooking for My Children is a deep dive into WWII-era Taiwanese culture and a history of its food. It follows Ruth Lieu’s childhood in post-WWII Taiwan. In it, she describes the foods she ate during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.
This book isn’t colorful or decorated with photos. It is a basic book with a story and recipes. If you are familiar with Taiwanese recipes and just want a simple cookbook to refresh your memory, this is the book for you.
Taiwanese Recipes Cookbook: Easy and Tasty Recipes from Taiwan
I’m not going to recommend this cookbook. I’m just including it on the list to let you know you shouldn’t buy it. It just includes a lot of easily accessible online recipes compiled into book form.