An American Vegetarian in Taiwan
The first time I came to Taiwan, I lived in Taipei for two months during the summer while I took Chinese classes at a local university. I was only here for a short time, so I never really developed any close friendships and spent much of the summer exploring Taipei by myself. As someone who has been a vegetarian for most of my life and does not generally enjoy cooking, I spent a great deal of my free time that summer hunting down vegetarian restaurants. One day I was trying out a particularly interesting restaurant: a multi-level Taiwanese-style vegetarian buffet. The price was a bit expensive, but it was all-you-can-eat, which I was excited about, because like all vegetarians I have ever met and contrary to stereotypes, I really love to eat and can put away quite a large amount of food in one sitting. As a single white female, I stood out in the sea of hungry Taiwanese people at the buffet. Still, I was not treated like an outsider. People kept pushing me out of the way to get to the food, just as they did with everyone else. At one point, a pile of fresh mock-seafood kabobs
