Love Letter by Perin Romano '22

47 Love Letter by Perin Romano '22

What was also very different from my life in Ohio, the City of Corn, was that my grandma's house in Daya, Taichung, is right next door to a Bubble Tea shop. On the left, there was a fried chicken stall that’s now been closed down. We could never properly park the car in front of the house because the customers from these two places would take up that space with their motor scooters, which always had burning hot engines we had to avoid touching even though there was barely any room to move. There’s also a supermarket across the street from the house. We used to take their shopping baskets back to the house because of how easy it was to return them. Walking maybe not even a block down the road is a convenience store, where I would buy an abundance of food, from premade cold noodle dishes to cooked hot pot ingredients, hotdogs, and sweet potatoes. There is also a plethora of drinks—from fruit flavored milk and clear sports drinks, to all different kinds of coffee— iced and hot, and matcha lattes. Not to mention snacks, fresh salads, and Japanese sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

Going a bit further is the highlight of the food kingdom: The Daya Market. The food market is where vendors sell the most authentic food, which sometimes tastes more delicious because the food served is what people know how to make. I can still imagine a certain restaurant, with flavorful broth drenching egg noodles and properly seasoned vegetables, a fan blowing from the corner of the ceiling, the news channel playing on the television in the background, and the sounds of people yelling out discounted prices and the smell of incense from the temple. The dozens of night markets include many favorites, one of them being Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang, literally translating to “Big Sausage Wraps A Small Sausage”, which sort of has a questionable name, but it’s simply just a sausage with sticky rice wrapped around it like a hotdog bun. There are also wheel cakes—pancake-like pastries—usually with red bean paste or cream inside of them. I also can’t forget about all the food in the thirteen-story department stores and shopping centers. These include ramen restaurants, MOS Burger (a main dish is a beef burger with a bun made of rice), and Chun Shui Tang, a teahouse chain that serves lunch and dinner as well, and claims to have invented the original Bubble Tea. Honestly, there are still so many food options I could describe, especially since I’ve only covered one district of one of the three major cities in Taiwan, and I haven’t even mentioned half of the food items that I enjoy. Among the food I haven’t mentioned yet, there are nutritious home-cooked dishes, traditional and trendy bakeries, businesses that specialize in making bentos, vegan alternatives and themed restaurants like the famous Modern Toilet Restaurant.

I used to be picky when it came to foods, and I did once in first grade wonder why I had to bring fried rice in a bulky container to school when I could just buy the provided lunch, but after a while I came to appreciate many foods, especially the diversity of cuisines in Taiwan. I’m not hating on the City of Corn. I just want to emphasize my gratitude for these food items found on the island in Asia many people have just started to know about. I think the reason why food is so great in Taiwan is because it is an important part of Taiwanese culture. When people greet each other, they don’t say, “How are you?”, they ask you if you have eaten yet. People older than you will serve food for you, and conservative adults fight over the dinner bill. Food is a way of showing care. As my love for food grew, I also got used to some of the cultural differences in Taiwan, and learned to be fully confident in both sides of my culture.