By Saaya.M
Taiwan is known as a vegetarian-friendly county as it has over eight million Buddhist people. There are a lot of vegetarian restaurants and many vegan restaurants in this country. In Taipei, the biggest city in Taiwan, it is not difficult to find vegan and vegetarian food.
Traditional vegetarian restaurants:
This type of restaurant is the most common place to eat for Buddhists and is also popular with non-vegetarian people in Taiwan. Many of them are run by Buddhists, and the most popular style in this type of restaurant is a buffet. You can choose from many kinds of vegetables and fake meats. In general, the price is reasonably cheap, they measure the weight of your meal and set the price.
This kind of restaurant usually has a sign of 素食/蔬食, which means vegetarian food. If you want to have local dining experience, go and find this sign. However, vegans must be careful to eat there since staff often are confused about what is vegan and what is not.
One thing that vegans traveling to Taiwan must be aware of is that most fake meat in Taiwan contains milk or even real meat as the government investigated in 2009. Many restaurant staff still don’t know or ignore this fact, thus I strongly suggest you not to eat fake meat unless you can actually ask them to show which brand of fake meat they use and its package.
Convenience stores and supermarkets:
In Taiwan, you can easily find convenience stores open for 24 hours and each of them are very close to each other. Even if you are in a rush or hungry in the very early morning or late at night, you can always grab food from the convenience store. Food in Taiwan is often labeled vegan or vegetarian. They are usually labeled as below in the table.
* This labeled product can be accidentally vegan but not always. It’s very difficult to know whether it’s not vegan or not unless you contact the company. For vegans, I strongly suggest not eating food labeled as 五辛素 for your safety.
This labeling system is often used at the night market, however, its credibility goes lower since the stalls can claim their food is vegetarian or vegan without government’s authorization unlike selling products at stores.
Modern vegan & vegetarian restaurants
Veganism is expanding in Taiwan dramatically, new vegan/vegetarian restaurants are coming up almost every year. In Taiwan, there is a big demand for traditional vegetarian food like the one I mentioned in the early paragraph, however, nowadays, there are more and more western-style vegan/vegetarian restaurants in big cities like Taiwan. In most western-style restaurants, staff speak good English and they are generally very nice. I will introduce some popular restaurants in Taipei among foreign tourists.
Ooh Cha Cha (Vegan) in Guting / Technology Building
Most popular western-style vegan cafe in Taipei. They offer fresh healthy vegan food such as burgers, sandwiches and raw cakes, many of them are gluten-free. They have two branches in Taipei as of 2020 near Guiting station and Technology Building station. The Technology Building branch has a pub, and is open until late.
Address:
Guiting: No. 207, Section 2, Nanchang Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100
Technology Building: No. 4-1, Lane 118, Section 2, Heping East Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106
Tel.: 0223677133
Website: https://oohchacha207.wpengine.com/
Facebook: @OohChaCha
Plants (Raw Vegan)
Famous raw vegan restaurant in Taipei. They have a rich variety of food and drink options from fresh acai bowls to korean style bibimbap. If you are a raw-veg eater then this place is a must-visit restaurant.
Address: No. 10, Lane 253, Section 1, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106
Tel.: 0227845677
Website: https://www.plantseatery.com.tw/
Facebook: @plantseatery
Uncle Q (Vegan)
This newly opened vegan restaurant is in central Taipei. It’s run by the professional basketball player Quincy Davis. You can enjoy authentic western food such as pizza, risotto and fries there.
Address: 10642, Taipei City, Da’an District, Chaozhou Street, 105-1F
Tel.: 0223568095
Facebook: uncleqvegan
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