Discover Taiwan: Food, culture and a surprising Malaysian connection

TAIWAN is an easy place to get excited about food. Its night markets, bowls of beef noodles and busy shopping streets are enough to fill a holiday.

But there is another reason for Malaysians to take a closer look. Some of the island's oldest communities have links to the wider history of this region, reaching back thousands of years.

Taiwan is home to 17 officially recognised Indigenous peoples, each with its own language, culture and traditions. Learning about them can turn a holiday into a journey through the food, farming and shared history that connect places across the sea.

A CONNECTION ACROSS THE SEA

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The link begins with language.

Bahasa Malaysia and Taiwan's Indigenous languages belong to the Austronesian language family. This means they are related, although they have developed into different languages over a very long time.

Evidence suggests that people speaking early Austronesian languages began moving from Taiwan into the Philippines about 4,000 years ago, before spreading further across the region. They carried farming knowledge and crops as well as language.

Researchers are still studying exactly how these journeys happened. They form part of a much larger history, with Malaysia shaped by many communities, migrations and exchanges over time.

For Malaysian travellers, this offers a reason to be curious about Taiwan beyond its famous sights. The island holds stories that connect with the region to which Malaysia belongs.

STORIES KEPT ALIVE

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Some of those stories reached Malaysian audiences when the Formosa Indigenous Song & Dance Troupe brought 'When Spirits Meet' to the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.

The performance featured traditions from the Pinuyumayan and Pangcah communities. Through song and dance came stories of migration, celebrations and young people taking on adult responsibilities.

One Pinuyumayan chant honoured women's work in fields of millet, a small grain grown for food.

The performers learn from elders and work with researchers to keep these traditions alive. Behind each performance is the effort of people who want the next generation to remember where it comes from.

That concern will feel familiar to Malaysians whose families hope to pass on a language, a recipe or a custom.

FROM THE FIELD TO THE TABLE

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The songs also offer a way into Taiwan's countryside.

Among the Bunun, another Indigenous people, a prayer called pasibutbut asks for a good millet harvest. It shows how closely farming, belief and community life can be linked.

Malaysians can find a point of comparison in Sabah's Kaamatan, where rice is central to Kadazandusun thanksgiving and identity. The traditions are different, but both reveal how a crop can mean much more than food.

Taiwan's agricultural maps help travellers explore these connections.

The Ministry of Agriculture's Taiwan Agricultural Map introduces local produce and food culture. The Taiwan Leisure Farms Development Association also publishes a Taiwan Farm Travel Map, including English and Bahasa Malaysia versions.

These can lead visitors towards orchards, tea plantations, fishing villages and farms offering harvesting or cooking activities. Taiwan's Tianmama food programme introduces local agricultural stories through meals made with regional ingredients.

For Malaysians, such visits can also spark ideas about helping visitors discover the food, farming skills and village life closer to home.

FAMILIAR TASTES, DIFFERENT STORIES

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Taiwan's food offers other points of connection.

Hakka lei cha may be familiar to Malaysians who know thunder tea rice. Comparing the ingredients and preparation can reveal how a dish changes as families settle in different places.

There are also oyster omelettes, beef noodles and Tainan's danzai noodles to try. Official halal and Muslim-friendly dining guides help Malaysian visitors plan where to eat.

A little curiosity can make these meals more rewarding. A dish may tell a story about a family's move, a local crop or a cooking method passed down through generations.

TIME TO LOOK CLOSER

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The same approach makes Taiwan's towns and landscapes more interesting.

Tainan's Anping Old Fort and historic streets tell stories of settlement and trade. Taipei's Dadaocheng, once known for tea and cloth trading, may remind Malaysian visitors of the trading histories of George Town and Melaka.

In Taichung, Rainbow Village carries the story of former soldier Huang Yung-fu, whose paintings helped save the place he called home.

Rail travel makes several western cities accessible. Hualien and Taitung offer opportunities to learn about Indigenous heritage, while Alishan combines forests, tea country and its railway with Tsou cultural traditions.

Leaving time for a guide's explanation or a conversation over food can give these places a human warmth that stays with a traveller.

The songs brought to Malaysia carry a similar lesson. They survive because elders teach them and younger people choose to learn.

A visitor may return from Taiwan with a greater appreciation of the same effort at home, wherever a family keeps a recipe alive or a grandparent passes a language to a child.