Indulgences

1. 米酒

   Bí-tsiú

   Rice wine

   Usage

   Wine brewed from glutinous or other rice. In Taiwan it is a kitchen staple as much as a drink, used to simmer sesame-oil chicken and ginger duck. A colloquial nickname is 幌頭仔 hàinn-thâu-á

   Grammar Note

   To drink alcohol is 啉 lim in Taiwanese; 食 tsia̍h covers both eating and drinking

2. 高粱酒

   Kau-liâng-tsiú

   Sorghum liquor

   Usage

   A distilled spirit made from sorghum. It is very strong, so it is drunk in small measures. Bottles from Kinmen are a standard souvenir-shop item

   Grammar Note

   Note: 高 is normally read ko, but this word is read kau-liâng-tsiú. Do not say ko-liâng-

3. 紅露酒

   Âng-lōo-tsiú

   Red yeast rice wine

   Usage

   Red yeast rice blended with rice wine, 18 to 20% alcohol. The Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation still produces both a premium and an aged version

   Grammar Note

   Made only in Taiwan, so it does not appear on menus elsewhere. 紅 takes the colloquial reading âng; its literary reading is hông

4. 太白酒

   Thài-pe̍h-tsiú

   Taibai liquor

   Usage

   The Taiwanese version is brewed from starch, chiefly at the Puli distillery in Nantou. The sweet-potato-starch version is also called sweet potato liquor

   Grammar Note

   白 takes the colloquial reading pe̍h here; the literary reading pi̍k appears only in learned compounds

5. 麥仔酒

   Be̍h-á-tsiú

   Beer

   Usage

   Brewed chiefly from barley: slightly bitter, foamy, aromatic and comparatively low in alcohol. Add 冰的 ping--ê if you want it cold

   Grammar Note

   Taiwanese writes 麥仔酒, not Mandarin 啤酒. Take care not to confuse it with the near-homophone 麥仔茶 be̍h-á-tê, barley tea

6. 燒酒

   Sio-tsiú

   Liquor (general word)

   Usage

   It means "alcohol". It is the everyday Taiwanese word for alcoholic drink of any kind; plain 酒 tsiú also works

   Grammar Note

   Unlike Korean soju or Japanese shochu, this is not limited to distilled spirits. 燒 sio also means "hot" in everyday Taiwanese, as in 燒水 sio-tsuí, hot water

7. 五加皮

   Ngóo-ka-pî

   Wujiapi medicinal liquor

   Usage

   A medicinal liquor steeped with the root bark of Acanthopanax; traditionally described as dispelling damp and strengthening the sinews. Note that it is still alcohol: avoid it before driving or while on medication

   Grammar Note

   五 has two readings: gōo for counting and ngóo in compounds of this kind

8. 薰

   Hun

   Cigarette

   Usage

   Shredded tobacco rolled in thin paper. Note that smoking is banned indoors in public places and in many outdoor areas in Taiwan; smoke only in designated areas

   Grammar Note

   Taiwanese writes this with the single character 薰, not Mandarin 菸 or 煙. The same character also serves as a verb, "to fumigate with smoke"

9. 食薰

   Tsia̍h-hun

   To smoke

   Usage

   The verb phrase for smoking. Example: 食薰對身體無好 (smoking is bad for you). To decline, say 我無食薰 Guá bô tsia̍h-hun, "I don't smoke"

   Grammar Note

   Taiwanese 食 tsia̍h covers eating, drinking and smoking alike. 噗薰 pok-hun is a synonym

10. 薰吹

    Hun-tshue

    Smoking pipe

    Usage

    A tube with tobacco packed in one end and drawn from the other; seen mostly as decor in antique shops and old teahouses. Also read hun-tshe

    Grammar Note

    The tshue / tshe alternation reflects the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou vowel systems in Taiwanese; both are correct

11. 檳榔

    Pin-nn̂g

    Betel nut (areca nut)

    Usage

    An evergreen palm and its nut, sliced and chewed with slaked lime and betel inflorescence. Warning: the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies areca nut, including betel quid without tobacco, in Group 1, carcinogenic to humans (IARC Monographs Volume 85, 2004; reaffirmed in Volume 100E). It is a leading cause of oral cancer and is not something to try. This card exists so you can read the green roadside signs, not so you can order

    Grammar Note

    An alternative name is 菁仔 tshenn-á. Stands with 檳榔 in large characters line the main roads and are part of the Taiwanese landscape

12. 瓜子

    Kue-tsí

    Roasted melon seeds

    Usage

    Watermelon, pumpkin or sunflower seeds roasted and seasoned; cracked between the front teeth at New Year, at banquets and during long conversations at home

    Grammar Note

    子 is read tsí when it means a seed and á when it is the diminutive suffix; here it is a real seed, so tsí

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