| The Occidental Tourist |
Taipei, the megapolis on the island nation of Taiwan, greeted us with an overcast sky that revealed itself as mostly smog and a zillion motor scooters piloted by stony Taiwanese wearing designer surgical masks to ward off the suspect air. The architecture on the ride in from the international airport seemed to ape the drab concrete of post-Stalinist Russia. But first impressions, as we all know, can be superficial, if not downright deceiving.
The Taiwanese are an unfailingly polite and helpful people; they offer you seats on public transit, and whenever we pulled out a map, an eager local (usually a woman) stepped up to ask in perfect English where we desired to go; one such lady even phoned ahead to our destination to make sure of the route.
Our first clue to an emerging green spirit came even before we left the airport. Signs in restrooms proclaimed that all paper products were made from recycled material—a claim not many U.S. airports can make. We soon began to spot recycling bins in city parks and public buildings. We found organic offerings at restaurants. One of these, Green Leaf, in Zhongshan district, offered a tasty dish featuring smoked organic chicken.
But our favorite find during our short stay in the city is at 273 Roosevelt Road just a few short blocks from Taiwan National University‘s main campus and the Gongguan subway stop. It’s called Cotton Fields (though there’s no English signage at the entrance). For a few bucks, we enjoyed a tasty and healthy Taiwanese lunch in the upstairs dining area (listening to piped-in renditions of “O Susanna” and “Amazing Grace”). This venue, however, is primarily a first-rate natural and organic foods store. Here you can purchase anything from organic grape seed oil to local pineapple and bamboo shoots certified by TOFA (Taiwanese Organic Farmers Association) to rice and grains of many varieties, breads and local eggs, vitamins and natural body care products. When in Taipei, it’s a green oasis worth a special trip.
