Sugar and Spice

Exploring the Sweet Side of Taipei’s Traditional Bakeries

Ask any sweet-toothed visitor to Taiwan about local traditional-style pastries and they will surely rhapsodize about pineapple cakes. These crumbling-crusted jammy treats are undeniably good, but they are just the tip of the sugar-infused iceberg. Delve a little deeper and you will discover a whole industry catering to confection cravings built on families of bakers that have honed their craft over generations.

Throughout the Sinosphere, there is a strong tradition of baked treats made to be shared at times of celebration. These are pastries with symbolic wishes for good health or fortune baked into their very essence, and an ingredients list as evocative as a waft of sugar-scented air rushing out of a just-opened oven. Feeling peckish? Then dig in.

NOT JUST SWEET

Surprising to Western palates, many traditional cakes and pastries in Taiwan are savory, not sweet