Taiwan is famous for its incredible street food, but did you know the snack aisles in Taiwanese convenience stores are just as adventurous? In our latest YouTube video, we decided to be the “willing victims” of the Taiwanese snack marketing teams and taste-test the most viral, limited-edition chip flavors we could find.
From the terrifying Century Egg Doritos to the surprisingly fizzy Draft Beer Lay’s, we tried them all. Some were surprisingly delicious, and some tasted like… well, like “hot spring water” and regret.
Check out the video to see our raw reactions, and read on to learn the key vocabulary so you can hunt for these snacks yourself (or avoid them!) on your next trip to Taiwan.
Key Vocabulary List
Here are some of essential words from the video. We’ve included both Simplified and Traditional characters so you’re ready for any Chinese-speaking environment. Study all the words, and many more using the Skritter app.
| Simplified | Traditional | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 零食 | 零食 | líng shí | Snacks |
| 口味 | 口味 | kǒu wèi | Flavor / Taste |
| 噱头 | 噱頭 | xué tóu | Gimmick (marketing) |
| 皮蛋 | 皮蛋 | pí dàn | Century Egg (Preserved Egg) |
| 香菜 | 香菜 | xiāng cài | Coriander / Cilantro |
| 贡丸汤 | 貢丸湯 | gòng wán tāng | Pork Ball Soup |
| 米血糕 | 米血糕 | mǐ xiě gāo | Pig Blood Cake |
| 生啤酒 | 生啤酒 | shēng pí jiǔ | Draft Beer |
| 咸蛋黄 | 鹹蛋黃 | xián dàn huáng | Salted Egg Yolk |
| 乖乖 | 乖乖 | guāi guāi | Kuai Kuai (Brand name, lit. “Obedient”) |
| 味道 | 味道 | wèi dào | Taste / Smell |
| 恶心 | 噁心 | ě xīn | Disgusting / Nauseating |
If you want to master these words and hundreds more, don’t forget to download the Skritter app. We have a dedicated deck for this video so you can practice reading, writing, and recognizing these tasty (and not-so-tasty) terms.
Study the deck on Skritter. Download our app on iOS or Google Play. Open Directly in Skritter here.