The other day, Una and I went to the 素食夜市小吃園遊會 Happy Lantern Green Night Market — a 100% vegetarian (and mostly vegan) Taiwanese street food festival which took place in Alhambra. If that sounds on the surface impossibly niche, consider the following.

1. Taiwan is the cradle of the night market.
2. Taiwan is, after India, likely the second most-vegetarian country in the world.
3. Metro Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Taiwanese outside of Taiwan.

Once one is aware of those three facts, the event probably seems less strange and indeed, in the time it took for us to eat $50 worth of vegetarian Taiwanese street food, business was brisk and seating in short supply.

The event took place on 16 February in the Green Menu Center. It marked the anniversary of that organization’s foundation… and additionally fell reasonably close to the Lunar…