Chiayi, Taiwan

February 2023

Multiple taxi drivers, bloggers, and Taipei-based friends and family tell me that there is nothing to see or do in Chiayi 嘉義. Indeed it seems that most people pass through Chiayi on their way to more exciting destinations, like Alishan or Sun Moon Lake. But the Netflix show Street Food dedicated an entire episode on Chiayi, Taiwan, and this may or may not be the motivating reason we flew halfway across the world. Everyone else is here for the temples and mountain mists; Won and I are here for the fish head stew.

With a population of 260,000, Chiayi is about the size of Spokane, WA, except twice as dense. It’s got a distinct down-home vibe. Unlike other Taiwan cities, there is no metro system, and the skyline isn’t dominated by high rise buildings. It’s easy to get around the compact town on foot. It seems silly to hail a taxi or to try to decipher a local bus schedule, when the destination is less than a mile away. I’ve inadvertently discovered why the Taiwanese can literally eat all day and still stay trim: they walk everywhere. I have averaged 22,000 steps a day. Back home, people drive down their own driveways to get the mail. I’ve got a set of new foot blisters to remind me of how sedentary my normal life is.

People speak Taiwanese Hokkien rather than Mandarin on the streets in Chiayi, and there are fewer signs in English. There are 4 official languages in Taiwan: Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien 臺語, Hakka, and the Taiwanese aboriginal languages. Mandarin is the lingua franca, taught in schools, and used for all official business. But in homes and among friends, especially in smaller cities and on the southern part of the island, Taiwanese Hokkien is used. I read that it was brought over by immigrants from the Fujian Province of Southern China hundreds of years ago, and while it has evolved into its own language, speakers of Taiwanese Hokkien and speakers of Fujian dialects can understand each other. I’ve noticed that people switch easily between Mandarin and Hokkien in the same conversation: start the food stall order in Mandarin, then switch to Hokkien when asking how the vendor’s day is going, then subsequently carry on the conversation with a mix of the 2 languages. The latter feels more casual, used to convey friendship and familiarity. The written characters are the same for both languages. As a foreigner, all this lends to the wonderful energy and vibrancy of Taiwan. Suddenly it seems boring to use English all the time.

What Chiayi lacks in marketable tourist attractions, it more than makes up for in food. We have criss-crossed the city looking for the best turkey rice, tofu pudding, fish head stew, and other delectables that are unique to Chiayi. The Wen Hua Night Market 文華 has become one of our favorites, joyfully chaotic and a fun place to people watch.

February 26, 2023