臺灣文學虛擬博物館

The blazing flames of hunger are raging and you are on the go. In 30 seconds you can finish a caizong (sticky rice dumplings with peanuts) and still get to work on time.

Cooked up in 3 minutes, a bowl of fragrant instant noodles with minced pork can keep you company during late nights, which is much faster than finding comfort in online chatrooms. In this age where efficiency is everything, eating has become the backbone of productivity.

 Caizong 菜 粽 

People in Fucheng enjoy delicious snacks. All of their snacks, such as fried eels, rice cakes, fishballs, wa gui (savory rice puddings) etc., are all made with every effort to taste heavenly. Breakfast is usually not just soymilk with youtiao (fried bread sticks) and shaobing (clay oven rolls), but a big caizong and a bowl of miso soup. The best caizong is from the stall in front of the Xiadadao Temple, the furthest one from my house. Their caizong seems particularly large with an extra generous helping of peanuts and rice. As soon as you peel off the bamboo leaf, a delicate fragrance rushes out. The glutinous rice and peanuts are steamed to the perfect amount of stickiness and softness, and create melt-in-your-mouth sensation.

◖ Ye Shi-tao, “Eating Caizong” in The Collected Works of Yeh Shi-tao, 1994

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About the Author:
Ye Shi-tao‘s work includes prose and novels. He began learning Chinese in the early postwar period. However, he stopped writing in 1951 after being arrested and imprisoned, and made a comeback in 1965. In the mid-1960s, he wrote many novels that depicted common people born into poverty, such as “Spring Dream at Gourd Valley”. His works in 1980 following the lifting of martial law were based on the White Terror and the February 28th Incident. These works had a strong autobiographical nature, such as Taiwanese Jian A-tao, and others. As to literary review, his A History of Taiwan Literature attracted the most attention in the literary world and was the first book of contemporary Taiwanese literary history. This work can be said to be a testimony to and foundation of Taiwanese literary research.

 Instant Noodles 速 食 麵

A familiar smell wafts from the pot of water on the stove and into his nostrils. What is that smell? He suddenly feels lost in time and space, seemingly transformed back into a soldier with a crewcut. It’s minced pork! A packet of minced pork for instant noodles!

◖ Guo Qiang-sheng,“Why Reflect” in Dishes of Love, 1997

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About the Author:
Guo Qiang-sheng is a professor in the Department of Language and Creative Writing at National Taipei University of Education. His work includes prose, essays, novels, and scripts. He has taken on many roles, including that of a writer, scholar, cultural critic, theater production director, and others. In the 1980s, his novels became known in literary circles. Chu Tian-wen described his novels as “naturally flowing from the air of this moment in time.” His recent works include Why Not Be Seriously Sorrowful and Piano Seeker.

 Ice Pops 枝 仔 冰

The ice pop vendor rides from one town to the next to sell his wares. Children’s ears are especially keen. Even though the vendor has not arrived and still has a long way to go, children can hear the sound of the vendor peddling his pops.
 

◖ Hu Min-xiang,“Sugar Onion Stalks and Ice Pops” in Journal of Murrysville, 2004

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About the Author:
Hu Min-xiang has written prose, poetry, and essays. His experiences of living abroad can be seen in his works, as can his feelings of homesickness. In order to promote Taiwanese language literature, he uses language, styling, and creative materials to develop his works that call upon writers to “build a model for writing Taiwanese literature in Taiwanese” and use this model to ponder Taiwan's subjectivity, the establishment of a mother tongue literature, and other issues.

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