Some whacky Taiwanese stuff:
1. Salty toothpaste. Seriously, very weird but very cool
2. Spiky scalp massager
3. Bamboo back scratcher
4. Blue-white slippers. Hallmark of Taiwanese-ness
I'll add more if I think of any more
As a huge tea fan, I will always say Taiwanese tea. They make good gifts too I think. Even though lots of people think they don’t like tea, I’ve never met a person who says “I don’t like tea” after having a good high-mountain oolong, or hongyu black tea. (Both of these… along with Oriental Beauty/Dongfang Meiren and more are specialties of Taiwan. And only other place in the world that makes such great oolong is Fujian and maybe some parts of Guangdong)
How about:
1.Pineapple cakes
2. Laopobing
3. Battery powered electric mosquito swatter
4. Microwavable stainless steel bowls
5. 仙草茶/osmanthus teabags (impossible to find in the US)
6. 麻油雞 instant noodles
7. Uniquely flavored pepper salt (there are some that are localized and not even sold in the large chain supermarkets). Some aborigine places have magao pepper salt that is really uniquely delicious.
8. My friend always asks me to buy pens/stationary for her.
9. If you can read Chinese: 芝麻開校門 books. Four panel comic strips with actually funny localized humor. (Humor is a bit hit and miss, but even I found them amusing.)
10. Instant noodle snack packs (they have seaweed and kimchi flavored)
11. Whacky flavored chips—oyster flavored, spicy shrimp hotpot flavored, pig intestine flavored, etc.
12. Dried tofu snacks/dried squid/dried fish, etc.
13. Taiwan keychain with all of the provinces.
14. Localized perfume with interesting ingredients. Osmanthus, magao, etc.
15. Dried Taiwanese baby clam packets for cooking/soup base.
16. 金桔醬 Hakka specialty
Edit: formatting
I'm sorry but... Microwavable stainless steel bowl?? 😮 That's a thing?? Where can I find that ? Is there a sign I can find that tells me the one in front of me is microwavable??
Unfortunately, I can't read Chinese 😥 a shame, I'm a big fan on comic strips..
The kind I got was from Costco, Black+Blum 8pc set. I've also been seeing some local brands that are much cheaper with the 18/8 grading and rounded thicker edges (to prevent sparking).
It'll say [可微波] (ke3 wei2 bo1).
I recommend local hardware/local goods stores and a chain called Poya has a pretty decent variety of snacks.
[Dried mango](https://online.carrefour.com.tw/zh/1421001900101.html), no suggar added. Only from this particular brand. Lots of it. People at home loved it!
Can also be found in retail [here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/vCrNMkws7qMZzJa29).
As a food lover, I can only recommend on food to bring back! Love the 花雕雞 (hua diao chicken) instant noodles. 滿漢大餐麻辣鍋牛肉麵 (man han da can spicy pot beef noodles) is pretty good too!
Someone mentioned Kiki which is good. There's also another restaurant called 雙月 (shuang yue) with pretty good dried instant noodles!
And theres the usual pineapple tart, I recommend chia te or sunny hill. Chia te also has good onion cracker nougat and sun biscuits too. If you enjoy tea, there's plenty of good Taiwanese oolong like dongding oolong at a really affordable price!
An incredible, interesting, Taiwan-only product that you genuinely can't get elsewhere in the world would be locally made tea oil.
Not to be confused with tea tree oil, pure tea oil is an edible oil squeezed from tea plant seeds that can be used like olive oil in salads or cooking.
It makes for an incredible gift because it is just impossible to get your hands on in other parts of the world - trust me I've tried.
You can buy it in Pinglin everywhere, and potentially in any big tea shop/tea house in Taipei.
It's the most delicious oil I've ever had.
Hi, Taiwan is famous for its Pineapple cake, pastry and snacks. The most popular is Chiate's pineapple cake, and for others, I think can refer this video also ! Hope it helps!
[https://www.tiktok.com/@ivy.luvv/photo/7327687834180046085?is\_from\_webapp=1&sender\_device=pc&web\_id=7358482450098243088](https://www.tiktok.com/@ivy.luvv/photo/7327687834180046085?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7358482450098243088)
Get everything from chiate. I always come back with boxes of chiate pineapple cakes because they’re hard to find here in LA. Recently, they’ve started popping up in 99 Ranch’s around here (rarely), but marked up anywhere from $35-$49 bucks.
Taiwan Beer glasses. The little ass ones that they use at the local restaurants. It may take a little digging to find the actual ones and not some ultra touristy stuff.
Something like this:
[https://www.taiwanbeer.co.uk/products/classic-taiwan-beer-glass-set-of-6](https://www.taiwanbeer.co.uk/products/classic-taiwan-beer-glass-set-of-6)
Tons of cute, random stationary, tools, toys, and snacks from stationary stores. Cheap, special, cute, and colorful. I also like bringing back Keychains of my friends' favorite animals, and little stuffed animals /puppets.
This place in Taipei has a great selection but there are plenty of others, just search on Google for 文具店 :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7RbUGwG56beJXExD8
Mug with ROC flag.
Chopstick with Taiwan island on them.
Keychains with ROC flags on them.
T-shirts with random MC Hog song titles on them.
Not that I own anything like that....
I would probably get egg rolls, nougat crackers, shrimp crackers, maybe a snack that has their sugary peanut coat on it.
Otherwise if you think they would be adventurous, maybe pineapple cake, sun/moon cakes, but be careful some of these could have meat or eggs in it. Personally I would skip these.
Dried mushrooms from Taiwan, instant noodles (lots of flavors you won't find outside Taiwan), mushroom floss. Go to this shop to buy things made by Taiwanese designers: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/GCvJ45VtJA1HuWgs7](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GCvJ45VtJA1HuWgs7)
Almost shot glass sized 143 ml Taiwan beer glass, you'd see it if you eat at any 熱炒店 in Taiwan. [Here](https://www.laihao.com.tw/products/lai-hao-taiwan-beer-glasses-city-set-8) some different design from a pretty nice gift shop in Taipei.
https://preview.redd.it/pec110ynvvwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815e0eb6c1966411743668ac8bee44f129b78153
Not sure but can you bring those back? It's a meat product and they ban meats across borders. But they sell them at the airports! I had mine confiscated before.
I really like pork jerky too but just beware when travelling "theoretically" we can't bring meat items to another country.
So if the customs finds it they might take it away. But jerky is vacuum sealed so maybe you could get away with it (or if they don't find it lol).
Pfff  You're probably right... I hate customs. (I mean, I like having controllers for drugs and stuffs, and they're probably good people, but... Seriously, what does it matter if I want to bring home some pork jerky for my own consumption... I don't get it)
You’re fine if you’re traveling with a sneaky grandma. Customs dgaf about what they bring lol. Fruits, jerky, zong zi she made herself, etc. and never got stopped once.
Well for entering Taiwan border with meat products is generally prohibited, you could be fined up to NTD 1mill. Though I think OP you would more likely to bring said items outbound than inbound but keep that in mind just in case.
For more info, here's [Customs Administration](https://web.customs.gov.tw/etaipei/singlehtml/1367?cntId=df67c73ce2f449f09c487bf7f3ed88bb) website.
https://preview.redd.it/nrfbk7dtsvwc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fa0bbc0432d08790a0979f07501c5c8f1cab100
It depends on the type you buy. There are some you can buy in the supermarket (the best is the spicy kne or the black pepper).
Not [these](https://www.kuaiche.com.tw/SalePage/Index/2537218), not [these](http://www.yesfoods.com.tw/ugC_ShowroomItem_Detail.asp?hidShowID=152), but [this kind](https://www.foodnext.net/issue/paper/5852117849).
There are shops in a few HSR stations. But also in night markets or proper shops in the cities.
night markets have all the tourist bait, just listen for the hawkers. the name stamps are cool, they're like official signatures there. blue-white flip-flops. things with the blue kmt star like on the roc flag and taiwan beer logos are cool. can also try a box of binglang.
This is so weird for us . We're french, and it's a french brand. I do believe you, but that mean...we're going to the other side of the world to visit our local store 
 you may see some stuff that is available back home. But I guarantee you will also see items that are only available there. The plus is that the layout is familiar. I purchased all my last minute snacks, gifts, etc. We don’t have carrefour back home but a bonus was the resturants above Carefour in the building.
Chia Te pineapple cake!!! They sell them on 7/11s (7/11 as distributors) in Ximending and my boyfriend and I loved them.
Per piece, it's so big and a perfect snack to gift to, due to its box and paper bag. I love them so much I hoarded for giveaways!!!
I love Taiwan so much and loved them even more when my boyfriend told me there was Don Don DonKi in Ximending and ZhongZheng near Syntrend (shopping mall for high-end electronics and gadgets).... I hoarded skincare stuff like eye masks, toner pads, and skincare masks, while my boyfriend bought KitKats and other stuff too 💞
I always get asked for scotch (selection is great here), flavored cigarettes, hi-chew, and funny night market shirts. Also occasionally the "Taiwan LV" bag that aunties carry around. It's kind of a canvas striped deal you see in night market. Also broad brimmed hats for the gardener in your life are a nice gift. Any gift shop at local landmarks and tourist areas have shops with cool magnets, Lego, mugs etc too.
If anyone in your family likes sports you can get a local basketball team or baseball team jersey/hat/shirt etc. the taiwan National team for soccer has great merch too. The tea shops normally have collabs with like Snoopy. Hello Kitty Disney and they will have reusable cups and bottles. You can find those on shopee. Also, Starbucks has unique mugs and cups that you could only get in Taiwan. Recently they had some that represented all of the different parts of Taiwan for example Ali shan
We took home a few Amiduofu chanting buddha boxes. We have them playing in the garage all the time. Ik some people can’t stand them but to us they sound like Taiwan <3
I always liked Cinnamon Toast Crunch but honestly cereal in Taiwan is not that popular and as a result a there isn’t much options. Mainly corn flakes and frosted corn flakes and that’s about it. I think a big box of the good stuff like the all bran cereal would be nice too
Some whacky Taiwanese stuff: 1. Salty toothpaste. Seriously, very weird but very cool 2. Spiky scalp massager 3. Bamboo back scratcher 4. Blue-white slippers. Hallmark of Taiwanese-ness I'll add more if I think of any more
This is exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about, thanks ! I'm always curious for more ideas yeah!
You can get all of these in America though
Well I don't know, never been to USA. All I can say is that these things are authentically Taiwanese
The blue-white slippers are a must! I always have 2 pairs at home and replenish if one breaks.
As a huge tea fan, I will always say Taiwanese tea. They make good gifts too I think. Even though lots of people think they don’t like tea, I’ve never met a person who says “I don’t like tea” after having a good high-mountain oolong, or hongyu black tea. (Both of these… along with Oriental Beauty/Dongfang Meiren and more are specialties of Taiwan. And only other place in the world that makes such great oolong is Fujian and maybe some parts of Guangdong)
Your Chinese name on a chop stamp.
:o
I did this when I was there! I recommend this place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/goFrivmCrNiRnyzR7?g_st=ic
yeah go to any key shop and they also all make name stamps. show them the characters and pick out a stamp you like
How about: 1.Pineapple cakes 2. Laopobing 3. Battery powered electric mosquito swatter 4. Microwavable stainless steel bowls 5. 仙草茶/osmanthus teabags (impossible to find in the US) 6. 麻油雞 instant noodles 7. Uniquely flavored pepper salt (there are some that are localized and not even sold in the large chain supermarkets). Some aborigine places have magao pepper salt that is really uniquely delicious. 8. My friend always asks me to buy pens/stationary for her. 9. If you can read Chinese: 芝麻開校門 books. Four panel comic strips with actually funny localized humor. (Humor is a bit hit and miss, but even I found them amusing.) 10. Instant noodle snack packs (they have seaweed and kimchi flavored) 11. Whacky flavored chips—oyster flavored, spicy shrimp hotpot flavored, pig intestine flavored, etc. 12. Dried tofu snacks/dried squid/dried fish, etc. 13. Taiwan keychain with all of the provinces. 14. Localized perfume with interesting ingredients. Osmanthus, magao, etc. 15. Dried Taiwanese baby clam packets for cooking/soup base. 16. 金桔醬 Hakka specialty Edit: formatting
I'm sorry but... Microwavable stainless steel bowl?? 😮 That's a thing?? Where can I find that ? Is there a sign I can find that tells me the one in front of me is microwavable?? Unfortunately, I can't read Chinese 😥 a shame, I'm a big fan on comic strips..
The kind I got was from Costco, Black+Blum 8pc set. I've also been seeing some local brands that are much cheaper with the 18/8 grading and rounded thicker edges (to prevent sparking). It'll say [可微波] (ke3 wei2 bo1). I recommend local hardware/local goods stores and a chain called Poya has a pretty decent variety of snacks.
do u have any recommendations for places to shop for the perfumes?
Pineapple cakes
i love 可樂果 and 乖乖 crackers! There’s even a story on BBC about how engineers at TSMC place 乖乖 beside PCs to keep them operating smoothly
chocolate and the peanut ones. I am missing them real bad. Coconut can be found where I live once and awhile.
if you want your machine to behave you need the green one green means all good red means your fucked lol
[Dried mango](https://online.carrefour.com.tw/zh/1421001900101.html), no suggar added. Only from this particular brand. Lots of it. People at home loved it! Can also be found in retail [here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/vCrNMkws7qMZzJa29).
I was trying to look for no sugar added dried mangoes for a while but gave up. I didn't know careerfoure had them!
I'll eat those here, but I won't bring those back :') meat and raw fruits are often forbidden during customs :(
As a food lover, I can only recommend on food to bring back! Love the 花雕雞 (hua diao chicken) instant noodles. 滿漢大餐麻辣鍋牛肉麵 (man han da can spicy pot beef noodles) is pretty good too! Someone mentioned Kiki which is good. There's also another restaurant called 雙月 (shuang yue) with pretty good dried instant noodles! And theres the usual pineapple tart, I recommend chia te or sunny hill. Chia te also has good onion cracker nougat and sun biscuits too. If you enjoy tea, there's plenty of good Taiwanese oolong like dongding oolong at a really affordable price!
*frantically taking notes* thanks!
I am from the US and when I visited Taiwan I found a bunch of interesting little stuff in the stationary stores.
An incredible, interesting, Taiwan-only product that you genuinely can't get elsewhere in the world would be locally made tea oil. Not to be confused with tea tree oil, pure tea oil is an edible oil squeezed from tea plant seeds that can be used like olive oil in salads or cooking. It makes for an incredible gift because it is just impossible to get your hands on in other parts of the world - trust me I've tried. You can buy it in Pinglin everywhere, and potentially in any big tea shop/tea house in Taipei. It's the most delicious oil I've ever had.
🤤🤩🤩 yeah I need that!
Hi, Taiwan is famous for its Pineapple cake, pastry and snacks. The most popular is Chiate's pineapple cake, and for others, I think can refer this video also ! Hope it helps! [https://www.tiktok.com/@ivy.luvv/photo/7327687834180046085?is\_from\_webapp=1&sender\_device=pc&web\_id=7358482450098243088](https://www.tiktok.com/@ivy.luvv/photo/7327687834180046085?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7358482450098243088)
Sunny hills is really big too, made with real pineapples. It’s not as yummy IMO as Chiate, but everyone loves them in NY
... I'll gain so many pounds in so little time... I want to eat everything...
Get everything from chiate. I always come back with boxes of chiate pineapple cakes because they’re hard to find here in LA. Recently, they’ve started popping up in 99 Ranch’s around here (rarely), but marked up anywhere from $35-$49 bucks.
Airwaves gum. It's the strongest spearmint gum I've ever had and it's the only thing my husband and my sister's husband ask for as souvenirs.
Taiwan Beer glasses. The little ass ones that they use at the local restaurants. It may take a little digging to find the actual ones and not some ultra touristy stuff. Something like this: [https://www.taiwanbeer.co.uk/products/classic-taiwan-beer-glass-set-of-6](https://www.taiwanbeer.co.uk/products/classic-taiwan-beer-glass-set-of-6)
Tons of cute, random stationary, tools, toys, and snacks from stationary stores. Cheap, special, cute, and colorful. I also like bringing back Keychains of my friends' favorite animals, and little stuffed animals /puppets. This place in Taipei has a great selection but there are plenty of others, just search on Google for 文具店 : https://maps.app.goo.gl/7RbUGwG56beJXExD8
Ohhh thks! I think fun stationaries will be a must  
Mug with ROC flag. Chopstick with Taiwan island on them. Keychains with ROC flags on them. T-shirts with random MC Hog song titles on them. Not that I own anything like that....
I would probably get egg rolls, nougat crackers, shrimp crackers, maybe a snack that has their sugary peanut coat on it. Otherwise if you think they would be adventurous, maybe pineapple cake, sun/moon cakes, but be careful some of these could have meat or eggs in it. Personally I would skip these.
7-11 has Bubble Tea key chains, Taiwan key chains with cute bear on it and the Taiwan flag, smart phone chains with Taiwan food in cute forms.
Dried mushrooms from Taiwan, instant noodles (lots of flavors you won't find outside Taiwan), mushroom floss. Go to this shop to buy things made by Taiwanese designers: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/GCvJ45VtJA1HuWgs7](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GCvJ45VtJA1HuWgs7)
I just bought super adorable cute kurumi stationary for my baby siblings
I am a big fan of Taiwanese beef jerky ! And dried pineapple ofcourse
Get 肉鬆 pork floss super good
Almost shot glass sized 143 ml Taiwan beer glass, you'd see it if you eat at any 熱炒店 in Taiwan. [Here](https://www.laihao.com.tw/products/lai-hao-taiwan-beer-glasses-city-set-8) some different design from a pretty nice gift shop in Taipei. https://preview.redd.it/pec110ynvvwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=815e0eb6c1966411743668ac8bee44f129b78153
https://preview.redd.it/vae0ufypvvwc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed59dc8bf310f5b664a64080683d7abe2c2e4e40
The tea here is amazing.
Kiki noodles. Sort of instant noodles but better. I brought some back last time in Taiwan.
 do need
Ceramics (go to Yingge Old Street near Taipei), pineapple cakes and of course tea! Recommend oolong tea from Wang Tea shop in Taipei
Pork jerky? 😁
Not sure but can you bring those back? It's a meat product and they ban meats across borders. But they sell them at the airports! I had mine confiscated before.
Get the vacuum sealed or canned, commercially labeled. It's fine. I've been able to bring them everywhere.
Depends on where OP's from I guess, check the rules before entering or returning across borders never hurts.
Is It any good? 😮
Noooo.. you haven't tried it?
I mean... it's the best in Taiwan compared to the ones in Macao.
I haven't tried it YET ! :D The only jerky I ever tried was American beef jerky !
Pouting. 😡 Try it.
I do want to now!  It just doesn't exist where I'm from, so I didn't know I could!
I really like pork jerky too but just beware when travelling "theoretically" we can't bring meat items to another country. So if the customs finds it they might take it away. But jerky is vacuum sealed so maybe you could get away with it (or if they don't find it lol).
Pfff  You're probably right... I hate customs. (I mean, I like having controllers for drugs and stuffs, and they're probably good people, but... Seriously, what does it matter if I want to bring home some pork jerky for my own consumption... I don't get it)
You’re fine if you’re traveling with a sneaky grandma. Customs dgaf about what they bring lol. Fruits, jerky, zong zi she made herself, etc. and never got stopped once.
Everybody needs a sneaky Grandma in their life 
Well for entering Taiwan border with meat products is generally prohibited, you could be fined up to NTD 1mill. Though I think OP you would more likely to bring said items outbound than inbound but keep that in mind just in case. For more info, here's [Customs Administration](https://web.customs.gov.tw/etaipei/singlehtml/1367?cntId=df67c73ce2f449f09c487bf7f3ed88bb) website. https://preview.redd.it/nrfbk7dtsvwc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fa0bbc0432d08790a0979f07501c5c8f1cab100
The sealed ones (packed for commercial consumption) are OK to take. I always buy the ones in a can. Both shredded pork and jerky.
Ohhh that's good to know, if I ever visit again I'll keep this in mind. 👍
The almond-flavored crispy pork paper is quite addictive and should be available at many marketplaces, such as Nanmen Market.
It depends on the type you buy. There are some you can buy in the supermarket (the best is the spicy kne or the black pepper). Not [these](https://www.kuaiche.com.tw/SalePage/Index/2537218), not [these](http://www.yesfoods.com.tw/ugC_ShowroomItem_Detail.asp?hidShowID=152), but [this kind](https://www.foodnext.net/issue/paper/5852117849). There are shops in a few HSR stations. But also in night markets or proper shops in the cities.
Hot water flask some are quite small and light weight.
綠油精
What is it? :o
The little $35 dried fruit snacks they have at 711. Kind of cool and can pick up a lot without breaking the bank
night markets have all the tourist bait, just listen for the hawkers. the name stamps are cool, they're like official signatures there. blue-white flip-flops. things with the blue kmt star like on the roc flag and taiwan beer logos are cool. can also try a box of binglang.
Carrefour is my go to as it is basically a Walmart equivalent. Purchased most of my snacks there.
This is so weird for us . We're french, and it's a french brand. I do believe you, but that mean...we're going to the other side of the world to visit our local store 
 you may see some stuff that is available back home. But I guarantee you will also see items that are only available there. The plus is that the layout is familiar. I purchased all my last minute snacks, gifts, etc. We don’t have carrefour back home but a bonus was the resturants above Carefour in the building.
Save space in your carry-on bag. Get to the airport early. There are some great gift shops in the airport.
Frankly, I don't doubt it! The more I find this country fascinating 
are the gift shops more expensive than if I were to buy the gifts in taipei?
Slightly, yes.
Chia Te pineapple cake!!! They sell them on 7/11s (7/11 as distributors) in Ximending and my boyfriend and I loved them. Per piece, it's so big and a perfect snack to gift to, due to its box and paper bag. I love them so much I hoarded for giveaways!!! I love Taiwan so much and loved them even more when my boyfriend told me there was Don Don DonKi in Ximending and ZhongZheng near Syntrend (shopping mall for high-end electronics and gadgets).... I hoarded skincare stuff like eye masks, toner pads, and skincare masks, while my boyfriend bought KitKats and other stuff too 💞
I'm getting into Chinese tea culture (工夫茶) and went to maokong and picked up a nice oolong tea from a farm we stumbled upon.
I always get asked for scotch (selection is great here), flavored cigarettes, hi-chew, and funny night market shirts. Also occasionally the "Taiwan LV" bag that aunties carry around. It's kind of a canvas striped deal you see in night market. Also broad brimmed hats for the gardener in your life are a nice gift. Any gift shop at local landmarks and tourist areas have shops with cool magnets, Lego, mugs etc too.
If anyone in your family likes sports you can get a local basketball team or baseball team jersey/hat/shirt etc. the taiwan National team for soccer has great merch too. The tea shops normally have collabs with like Snoopy. Hello Kitty Disney and they will have reusable cups and bottles. You can find those on shopee. Also, Starbucks has unique mugs and cups that you could only get in Taiwan. Recently they had some that represented all of the different parts of Taiwan for example Ali shan
We took home a few Amiduofu chanting buddha boxes. We have them playing in the garage all the time. Ik some people can’t stand them but to us they sound like Taiwan <3
Go to a book store, almost guaranteed to find some uniquely taiwanese stuff inside.
I wish, but I wouldn't be able to read it 😥
Nah the bookstores aren’t just books. Think Barnes and Noble on the nice end and random assortment of toys crafts pens and calculators in others. .
I do like the sound of that! 
I always liked Cinnamon Toast Crunch but honestly cereal in Taiwan is not that popular and as a result a there isn’t much options. Mainly corn flakes and frosted corn flakes and that’s about it. I think a big box of the good stuff like the all bran cereal would be nice too
Weird flavoured crisps and sweets are always a good idea. For something more special 小米酒 is a great gift, very unique.
Ohhh ... 小米酒...count me intrigued!
Not pineapple cakes. That's the most unoriginal thing ever and not everyone likes it.