At the beginning of August, while I was chatting with my NTU language exchange partner, she mentioned to me an interesting-looking food exhibition taking place at the Taipei 101 Exhibition Hall. Now, as soon as I heard “food,” I was interested–but I was also intrigued by the exhibition itself. I’d never gone to anything like it; the closest comparable experience of mine would probably be an anime convention. It’s just not the kind of experience you’d get living out in the suburbs, so on the third and last day, August 8, I headed on over on the red line as soon as my classes ended.
The exhibition was bigger than I expected. Having looked at the brochure beforehand, I knew there were going to be a lot of stands by companies trying to market their foods, and half of me expected it to be some soulless affair with overpriced snacks–but it was actually really fun! Sure, a lot of the experience meant buying stuff, but it was really cool to learn more about the Taiwanese food economy. There were educational games and stands on the Taiwanese halal industry, domestic regional products, Indigenous Taiwanese products, imports, and so on. Plus, the prices weren’t so bad! I took home a few bags of Hakka tea and seaweed crackers.
As it happened, the exhibition hall right next door had some big art exhibition going on, and as my friend and I were leaving, we found out that it was free to go in. It wasn’t every day that we’d get to come to big city exhibition hall again, so we decided to take the chance–and I’m glad we did! There were some really stunning pieces, and the staff was all too happy to answer our questions.
Overall, it was a fun day. If anything, it further convinced me that I’d really want to live in a big city after graduation. These kinds of exhibitions just don’t happen in suburbs or rural places, and the idea of living in metropolis like Taipei, where these events are regular, sounds amazing.