There is always a hot meal section in Chinese supermarkets here at Bay Area.  Once in a while after shopping, my wife and I would buy a combo for our lunch or supper.  You know, the combo is kind of combination of various Chinese food, and customers could "stuff" whatever food they like into a polystyrene container as much as the container could hold.  Sometimes when checking out, the cashiers would even urge their customers load more because "after hours, the food will most likely become compost."  The price of a combo is $9, and it could "serve" us twice if fully loaded.  (We are a little bit too old to eat that much.)

When in Taipei, especially after walking around Dahu Lake or Bihu Lake in summertime, we would repair to a clean chain store of buffet at different location to eat in or to buy a take-out, at TWD200 averagely, for a single meal.  Therefore, the living standard of both places, Bay Area and Taipei, is close to each other, even taking that prohibitive property price into account.  Considering the average income of two places; however, young people of Taipei are just like living in utter misery.