Tian Mama Restaurants:

The Tastes of Taiwan

Cathy Teng　/　photos courtesy of the Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation　/　tr. by Phil Newell

April 2026

中文

It’s not unusual nowadays to see people lining up for food prepared by famous chefs. What’s truly rare, on the other hand, is the enjoyment of specialty dishes prepared by local rural women.

In Taiwan, these foods can be found at “Tian Mama” restaurants. Folks who work at these eateries are not professionally trained chefs, but make familiar dishes that preserve local flavors, memories, and human connections. These are tastes that link travelers with local agriculture and traditions.

A competition called The Taste of Taiwan, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture to select local specialty dishes to pass on to the next generation, has drawn on the skills of Michelin-ranked chefs to help Tian Mama restaurants up their game.

Alishan’s Yi Qing Shifang Tian Mama restaurant uses fermented skins of Ma bamboo shoots to produce “bamboo-shoot rolls” that manifest the lifestyle of the past in which all ingredients were considered precious.

The owner of Yi Qing Shifang takes customers on recreational journeys to a tea-growing village in the mountains. If it rains, everyone uses elephant-ear leaves as umbrellas. This out-of-the-ordinary experience helps make visits to the restaurant unforgettable.

The birth of Tian Mama

The founding of the Tian Mama brand goes back to the Jiji Earthquake of September 21, 1999, which ravaged the economies of many rural communities. The government figured: Farming communities still have food ingredients, so why can’t residents be guided to use these local ingredients in restaurants to make a living? This was the inception of the Tian Mama system. (Tian, meaning fields or farmland, is also a common Chinese surname. Thus “Tian Mama” means “Mother Fields” or “Mrs. Fields.”)

There are now more than 100 certified Tian Mama restaurants across Taiwan. Veteran culinary journalist Kaas Chen says: “Tian Mama staff can be described as the people who best understand the land.” They are well aware of the growing cycles of their local ingredients, the climate and soil conditions they experience, and so on. “They can rightly be called representatives of ‘Taiwan-style’ food, bringing out the flavors produced by Taiwan’s soil.”

The dolphinfish steaks served at Huatian Shifang, a Tian Mama restaurant in Chenggong, Taitung County, are sliced perpendicular to the spine, allowing consumers to intuitively grasp the fish’s body shape and fat distribution.

Taiwan terroir

In 2023 the Ministry of Agriculture organized an activity called The Taste of Taiwan to select dishes to be passed on to the next generation. A dozen Tian Mama restaurants were chosen, and four Michelin-starred chefs were invited to exchange ideas with them, in order to orchestrate flavors exclusive to Taiwan. In addition, culinary writers Kaas Chen, Jasmine Wang, Tien Feng, and Kiki Lin were invited to take part in and record the process and to tell the stories of the Tian Mama eateries.

Kiki Lin shares her knowledge of Yi Qing Shifang, a Tian Mama restaurant in Chiayi County’s Alishan Township. The eatery uses fermented sheaths of Ma bamboo shoots to produce “bamboo shoot rolls” that embody memories of Mom’s cooking and manifest the lifestyle of the past in which all ingredients were considered precious. The use of fermentation and other food preservation methods that have been seen as outdated resonates with today’s global emphasis on food localism and sustainability.

Jasmine Wang, meanwhile, points out that Tian Mama eateries by the sea feature rare marine flavors, using dolphinfish, flying fish, and even milkfish and grouper raised in their own aquaculture ponds to produce an “extremely Taiwanese taste.” Tien Feng adds as an example of local style that the dolphinfish steaks served at Huatian Shifang, a Tian Mama restaurant run by the farmers’ association in Chenggong, Taitung County, are sliced perpendicular to the spine, enabling consumers to intuitively grasp the fish’s body shape and fat distribution.

Ching Shan Farm in Taimali, Taitung County, uses the day lily in its food, and the “green jade shoots” in its marquee dish “omelet with green jade shoots” are in fact the crisp, tender stems of the day lily plant.

Meals and excursions

Besides the food, another reason why Tian Mama restaurants are must-visit venues is their many and varied agricultural tourism itineraries. When Kiki Lin visited Yi Qing Shifang, after the meal the owner took his customers on a farm truck along mountain paths to share his knowledge of local plants, showing them how to make bird whistles out of shell ginger leaves, and how to use elephant ears as umbrellas when it rains. This out-of-the-ordinary experience became the most memorable part of Lin’s journey.

Kaas Chen mentions Long-Ying Yuan-Bei, a Tian Mama seafood restaurant in Jibei, Penghu County. At sunset the owner takes customers out to sea in a boat to fish next to set-net fishing gear, and prepares the fresh-caught seafood on the vessel. Jasmine Wang, on the other hand, talks about Ching Shan Farm in Taimali, Taitung County, which offers an itinerary in which customers take day-lily-based boxed meals on mountain hikes.

Tien Feng says that at the Half Sky Bistro in Lugu, Nantou County, a member of the younger generation of a tea farming family who has returned home to the countryside has reinvented their tea plant nursery as a tea ceremony venue. He has not only revitalized the family business, but has involved other local businesses to rediscover the collective memories of this rural community.

“I think the best thing about the Tian Mama program is that it provides an evaluation system for local cuisine that is authentically Taiwanese,” says Tien Feng. While Michelin-starred eateries are mostly found in urban areas, Tian Mama restaurants constitute a culinary map of Taiwan’s countryside. Travelers are invited to leave the cities and eat rural meals that will enable them to understand the way of life and memories of each locale.

The ocean-fresh flavors served at the Long-Ying Yuan-Bei Tian Mama seafood restaurant in Jibei, Penghu County testify to the coolest aspect of everyday life on small islands: The sea is a natural refrigerator.