THe International Sisterhood’s Guide to International Ingredients
This community guide is intended to help you find the international ingredients you need in Taiwan, chiefly Taichung. You can check my unofficial guide to the groceries of Taiwan (Taipei). Or you can search by ingredient. Inspired by the collective wisdom and joy of authentic lunches and cooking classes with Taichung’s International Sisterhood, a group founded by Janet Hsieh, and compiled by me.
Why this guide?
For all of its beautiful fruit and fresh produce, Taiwan’s grocery stores feel extremely… Taiwanese. Local is great… except sometimes when you’re a foreign-ish national* and you crave the flavors of home / abroad. You might think Asia imports Asia, and you would be mistaken. Curry leaf and red pepper powder, foundational ingredients and spices of world cuisines easily found in NYC to KL, are extremely hard-to-find here. Your neighborhood grocery store, such as Carrefour (家樂福), PX Mart (全聯), MiaCBon/Jasons, and even the high-end Japanese shops inside department stores, probably do not carry the good stuff. (Sob!)
This is likely due to a combination of protectionist trade import-export policies in place that block outside food, international relations (Japanese and EU products make their way, after all), and biosecurity concerns over seeds, pests, disease.
Whatever the reason, it’s frustrating! Home cooks will learn to adapt over time to Taiwan’s grocery stores and their idiosyncrasies, but, in the meantime, here is a tongue-in-cheek guide to how and where to find hard-to-find foreign ingredients. And a search by ingredient below. Until the day Taiwan imports this stuff en masse, you can’t go wrong with packing a suitcase with your cant-live-without spices, fish sauces, beans, flours, and hard-to-find sauces. Next Up: What I Pack from the U.S.
Looking for a particular ingredient?
Pandan Leaf
Fragrant leaf. Fundamental to Malaysian (and other Southeast Asian) desserts and flavoring jasmine rice.
Where to find: Not for sale. Grow it yourself!
Curry Leaf
Must for curries. Gives it that signature darker, bass note flavor.
Cuisines: Indian, Malaysian, Caribbean; South and Southeast Asian
Where to find: Sold frozen at Mayur Indian Grocery store in Taichung. The owner has his own curry leaf tree. Not for sale, sorry. Grow it yourself!
Perilla Leaf
It’s not a shisho leaf, get it straight. Also called ‘kkaenip.’ Eaten as a wrap with grilled meats, seasoned into a kimchi side dish, and egg fried with tuna.
Cuisines: Korean
Where to find: Whenever the crop is imported here about twice a year. PX Mart sells this. Buy up as much as you can and kimchi it.
Dill
Pairs well with yogurt, salmon, and lemon. Key for pickles.
Cuisines: Mediterranean (Greek, etc), Levantine (Arab, etc), Central Asian, Nordic and Russian
Where to find: Lol good luck!!! Try a Japanese high-end grocery store?
Kimchi
The love of my life. My gut. Kimchi is pickled
Cuisines: Korean
Where to find: Bad kimchi is everywhere! Avoid Jongga kimchi at Carrefour and Gwangju kimchi at PX Mart. Traditionally, kimchi is winter food, and Taiwan does not have winter. Taiwan tries to cheat and bypass the slow, cold fermentation that gives good kimchi its depth of flavor by adding MSG, which tastes extremely off.
Good kimchi is sold in Tapiei: at 我們的家. In Taichung: at Sixth Market’s Banchan restaurant (owned by a Korean) and Samwon Garden. I am forever on the hunt for good kimchi in Taiwan, so contact me if you find/make some.
Lemongrass
Lovely, aromatic tropical grass with a citrusy flavor for curries and drinks.
Cuisines: Southeast Asian
Where to find: Vietnamese hawkers around ASEAN square sell lemongrass stalks frozen and fresh.