Tai O was a fishing village and was a major place of sea salt production and thus salted fish became a famous product of the place as well.

Making salted fish takes many steps: first of all, the internal organs have to be taken out then wash the fish body and put salt all over the body. Afterwards, the fish is placed layer-by-layer inside a big wooden box filled with salt. The fish is ready to dry in the sun after three to four days.

Before drying, the scales of the fish must be removed and the fish must be washed. After wiping the fish dry, wrap the head with handmade paper and dry the fish in the sun for five to six days. The quality of salted fish is determined by its freshness.

Fishermen can catch many small shrimps during June to September every year. After washing the shrimps, season the shrimps with salt then grind it and dry it in the sun, then you get shrimp sauce and shrimp paste.

Visitors can contact the Tai O Rural Committee if they wish to visit the production facilities for these products.

Tai O has famous dishes such as stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste and steamed salted fish with ginger. Other local cuisines such as fried rice with Tai O salted fish and chicken dice, salt-roasted chicken, fried rice with shrimp paste, steamed pork with shrimp paste, shallow-fried squid pie, steamed egg with ginger shreds, deep-fried fish, etc. There are also a variety of local snacks such as Malt syrup biscuit sandwich, Wife-cake, tofu pudding, Chinese herb drinks, and coriander pie, which is a festive food for the Bathing Buddhist festival.