Street Food S01E05 Chiayi, Taiwan

  • last month
-
Transcript
00:30♪♪
00:40♪♪
00:50Our customers say I'm a lot like my grandma.
00:57Kind of round.
01:00Wearing a smiling face with people.
01:04Sweating like crazy to run the business.
01:09But we're also totally different.
01:13Because I'm not a very good girl.
01:17I'm a rebellious kid.
01:21♪♪
01:33When the outside world hear about Taiwan,
01:36immediately they think of Taipei
01:38because it's such a busy city.
01:41But when you really want to look deeper
01:44into Taiwan's culture,
01:46Chiayi is the city to visit.
01:50Chiayi is located in southwestern Taiwan,
01:54surrounded by beautiful mountains.
01:57♪♪
02:00Because of the secluded location,
02:02Chiayi has not been very influenced by foreign culture.
02:08So the traditional dishes that truly represent Taiwan
02:12are best in Chiayi.
02:15♪♪
02:19Street food is the way to get to know our people.
02:25We don't usually have a stove top at little apartments,
02:29so night markets are very important to Taiwanese people.
02:35We can get cheap food, but at the same time,
02:39very delicious dishes like tofu pudding,
02:44turkey rice,
02:47beef noodle soup,
02:50dumplings, oyster omelette.
02:54You can have, like, 50 varieties of food
02:57that you can choose from every day.
03:00♪♪
03:03And there's one very famous fish head stew
03:07at a stall called Smart Fish.
03:09♪♪
03:11Grace keeps the recipe the same way as the old days.
03:16Her grandparents started with just one stall
03:2065 years ago in this night market.
03:23Expanding the business
03:25while keeping everything the old ways
03:28is very difficult to maintain.
03:31But Grace has done it.
03:34♪♪
04:04-♪♪
04:35I'm now the third generation making this fish head stew,
04:38carrying on my grandfather's signature recipe.
04:58Continuing a 100-year tradition is not easy.
05:01As a result, I hardly sleep.
05:04♪♪
05:11Before dawn at 3 or 4 a.m., I shop at the market.
05:15♪♪
05:19I go to the market to buy a lot of ingredients.
05:23Actually, my ideas are also ingredients.
05:29How to bust tables better and fix the floor plan.
05:38I have ideas for how to bring our family's tasty food
05:41to even more people.
05:43♪♪
05:46As a younger person taking over the family business,
05:50I'm going to do what I want.
05:54At least there's someone who's willing to do the work
05:58of improving the business.
06:02If we don't spend the time to do this,
06:05one day no one will be selling fish head stew.
06:08♪♪
06:14-♪♪
06:22When you come to Chiayi,
06:23the first thing you think of is the turkey rice.
06:27There are 300-something stores of turkey rice in Chiayi.
06:35Everybody eats turkey rice here
06:37because it's such a warm and filling dish.
06:41-♪♪
06:46I started selling turkey rice 50 years ago.
06:50Now I'm slowly letting the younger generation take over.
06:54I don't give them any advice.
06:57They will figure it out on their own.
07:01My mother was running the business on her own in the past.
07:05She did all the work.
07:06That's why we now divide the work and help each other.
07:11We slow-cook our turkey over 12 hours for the broth.
07:16We deep-fry our own pork fat in shallots
07:19and add them to the rice so it smells great.
07:22Our flavor hasn't changed since the beginning.
07:38When I was little, the arcade of our house
07:43was like my little world.
07:45I would lie inside a cardboard box,
07:48watching my parents run the stall.
07:52And I felt so happy.
07:55My parents only had six tables back then.
07:59And even during typhoons, rains, or extreme heat,
08:03they would always come out and run the business.
08:07I wish that when I grew up,
08:09a lot of people would come to our place.
08:15By five years old,
08:16I learned to wash dishes and sweep the floor.
08:21By age seven, I could serve food,
08:24use a kitchen knife, and settle the bills.
08:29At 12, I secretly learned how to ride a motorbike
08:32to buy ingredients at the grocery store.
08:37I'd work all day.
08:39Then in the middle of the night, I'd start my homework.
08:44Back then, people would call us oily soup guys.
08:49That was considered not sanitary
08:53or a family in bad circumstances.
08:57I remember my school days were really tough.
09:01My class called me Fish Head.
09:05I would ask, can you stop calling me that?
09:09But still, no one learned my name.
09:12They just called me Fish Head.
09:15I felt so awkward.
09:17I didn't like being called that name.
09:21But then my dad told me,
09:23don't think of it as a bad name.
09:26When I was young, they called me that too.
09:33My dad told me to focus on the positive side
09:35of everything in life.
09:39So even though many people looked down on us back then,
09:44I hoped one day that would change.
10:04In today's culture, street food has slowly evolved
10:08to look more fusion and duplicable.
10:12When traditional craftsmanship is not being valued enough,
10:16that's a threat to our Taiwanese flavor.
10:20But in Chiayi, people are very passionate
10:23about preserving tradition.
10:26高高的身材 恩爱爱哟
10:30细细的腰儿 恩爱爱哟
10:44Douhua, also known as tofu pudding,
10:46has been called the dessert of Taiwan.
10:51Tofu pudding was passed down through generations,
10:54and ours is the original authentic version.
10:57We've done 70 years of business.
11:09Especially in Chiayi, they put it on top of wood fire,
11:13boil it for days.
11:15It's often served with toppings like sweetened tapioca,
11:19peanuts, and mung beans.
11:25There are many new things these days.
11:28Everyone is coming up with new ingredients.
11:32But I'm sticking to the traditional methods.
11:35It's much better. It's healthier.
11:49阿哥你好美
12:11Your grandpa was hardworking.
12:14Back in the day, he was always working in the streets.
12:20He wasn't afraid of rain or wind.
12:24The story of our stall goes back more than 60 years.
12:29My grandma was very good at business.
12:33And my grandpa loved to fish.
12:39One time my grandpa caught too many fish.
12:43He decided to deep fry them so they wouldn't spoil as quickly.
12:50He covered them in yam flour batter and fried the fish
12:53until they were crispy and golden brown.
12:58And with that, he created a new signature dish
13:01and called it fish head stew.
13:12It has wood ear mushrooms, pork,
13:16onions, garlic, hot peppers for spice,
13:19and tofu.
13:26The secret that makes the food so delicious
13:28is we use a lot of napa cabbage.
13:31This is our southern flavor.
13:35Mom, come.
13:41When you reheat the overnight cabbage,
13:45it'll produce a sour and sweet taste.
13:48Taiwanese people love this sweetness.
13:51Everyone loved eating the fish head stew.
13:53They asked him to keep cooking it.
13:56So my grandparents thought,
13:59let's start a street stall.
14:02They were some of the first people
14:04to set up a Wenhua Road street stand.
14:07Wenhua Road wasn't even a night market back then.
14:13My grandparents felt such joy
14:15from selling their signature dish.
14:32Where do you start eating the fish head?
14:35You have to open the fish head.
14:37Open it here?
14:38Yes.
14:40This is the fish head.
14:42It's the size of a ping-pong ball.
14:44It's the best part.
14:46Your masterpiece.
14:47Yes.
14:48I think I could eat it every day.
15:03This goat stew is from the Sui dynasty in China.
15:07This dish was for the emperor 1,500 years ago
15:12who hoped for immortality.
15:18After that, it slowly disappeared.
15:22It was the only thing left.
15:26After that, it slowly disappeared
15:30until I brought it back again today
15:33to restore its former glory in Taiwan.
15:38This pot of medicinal wine
15:40contains Subarex bathyloba stem,
15:42root of magania, and Formosan buckthorn.
15:46So many customers tell me
15:48that this goat stew really is a magical elixir
15:51passed down to us
15:53because this recipe can cure many illnesses.
15:59But to make this stew,
16:02you really need to endure some suffering.
16:06Eight years ago, I started using a gas mask.
16:12But every night, it takes me over three hours
16:15to clear the phlegm.
16:21I'm a man of my word.
16:23I'm a man of my word.
16:25I'm a man of my word.
16:27I'm a man of my word.
16:29I'm a man of my word.
16:31I'm a man of my word.
16:33I'm a man of my word.
16:39You have to dig a hole and bury the pot into the ground,
16:43smoking it for three full days.
16:54The straw absorbs the earth's chi and heat waves.
16:59But actually, this whole space is terrible to live in.
17:06That's why you can't get this anywhere else.
17:10When I was 18, I got into a university in Taipei
17:14to study tourism
17:16because I wanted to gain more experience
17:20from the outside world.
17:22I was a tourist.
17:24I was a tourist.
17:26I was a tourist.
17:28I was a tourist.
17:30I was a tourist.
17:32I was a tourist.
17:34I was a tourist.
17:36I was a tourist.
17:39That year was the first time I left Chiayi.
17:43Taipei is totally different from Chiayi.
17:47So many taxis, motorbikes.
17:50It feels like such an advanced city.
17:54I wasn't used to it.
17:58But I felt so happy and curious.
18:09The year that I graduated, I didn't want to return home.
18:14I wanted to stay in Taipei to gain more experience.
18:21But my parents' food stall was understaffed.
18:25Help was badly needed.
18:33So my parents asked me to come home and help.
18:39Actually, I wanted to stay in Taipei,
18:42but I couldn't tell them that.
18:45I couldn't show the insistence on what my heart really wanted.
18:51So the year I graduated, I moved back to Chiayi.
18:58While on the train heading home, I really wanted to cry.
19:03But then I thought,
19:06this is my path, my way home.
19:18When I came back after college,
19:21I poured my heart into helping my parents.
19:26And I thought I'd try out some new ideas.
19:30For example, we used to put coins into a copper jar.
19:35So I suggested we get a cash register with a POS system installed.
19:41But my mom thought it was too modern.
19:46I suggested we get a dishwashing machine.
19:49My parents would say, it's expensive, don't buy it.
19:52Meanwhile, I had to hire five or six people to wash dishes every day.
19:56I even had to join in.
19:59Many customers asked me,
20:01you're a college graduate, why did you come back just to wash dishes?
20:10I was angry.
20:13I believed improving the stall was important,
20:16but my parents wouldn't take it seriously.
20:20We had so many disagreements and fights.
20:25When I tried to add online ordering,
20:28my parents didn't even understand computers.
20:31So I did everything on my own.
20:34I froze and packaged our food.
20:36It had to arrive within one week of shipping.
20:41When I first started, I was in a hurry to prep online orders.
20:44I kept packing and packing and packing.
20:47My mom kept selling them off to customers in the store.
20:51I spent so much time to pack 100,
20:54and then she sold half of them to customers right away.
20:57I stayed several nights to redo them until the final day,
21:00I just lost it.
21:03I smashed a pot.
21:06And she started throwing things too, bang, bang, bang.
21:11I really couldn't take it anymore.
21:15I even considered going back to Taipei to do my own thing.
21:21Why be at home fighting like this?
21:23Nothing ever gets resolved.
21:27How much is this?
21:29How much is this?
21:31Is this enough?
21:33Yes.
21:37At least there's someone who's willing to do the work of improving the business.
21:43But I was just exhausted.
21:58Honestly, making the stew,
22:02it's ruining the health of all of us, young and old.
22:05It feels like no way out.
22:08That's why I don't want my children to carry on the business.
22:15Their bodies cannot withstand it.
22:22Since they were infants, they've been inhaling smoke.
22:27Because smoke was accumulating in the house.
22:32Before their lungs fully developed, they had already been damaged.
22:50Making stew is like raising a child.
22:53Although my kids won't continue with it,
22:56I'm happy, because this wonderful product still exists.
23:16As soon as you take one sip, you'll think,
23:18oh, you'll feel your qi flow in a loop around your body.
23:28Since this recipe is so good,
23:32I hope I'm not the last one who makes it.
23:49Whenever I'm facing difficulties,
23:52I pray for guidance on what to do.
24:10I had ideas that could be helpful.
24:13But I didn't know what to do.
24:16I had ideas that could be helpful.
24:21But my parents just don't like change.
24:26I was very disappointed.
24:38It doesn't matter what religion you are connecting with.
24:41A higher power is a way to calm the heart.
24:46And it can inspire new ideas.
24:56While I was praying, I realized
25:02when my parents are out of town,
25:05they can't fuss that much.
25:08So I can execute my plans then.
25:16So I gradually began working this way.
25:21When my parents left for vacation,
25:25I would keep making changes to make our stall better.
25:30I installed an air conditioner,
25:32introduced a cashier system,
25:34and a food delivery service.
25:38I also made a website, trained our employees.
25:41And then I started opening new branch stores.
25:47But I never changed our family's signature flavor.
25:54She always waits for us to go on vacations
25:56to change everything around.
25:58So I can't do anything about it.
26:00In the end, I realized that what she does is good.
26:05Her improvements are actually great.
26:07Year by year, these changes took place.
26:11With every improvement,
26:13customers naturally kept coming in.
26:17Word of mouth spread,
26:19and even tourists in Chiayi knew about our place.
26:23Suddenly, we were preparing 5,000 servings a day.
26:28One time, I asked someone in line
26:30how long she'd been in business.
26:33She said,
26:34One time, I asked someone in line
26:36how long she'd been waiting.
26:39She said,
26:45My grandparents in heaven must be so happy.
26:49Now so many people know our family's fish head stew.
26:54People still call me fish head.
26:57But they call me that with affection.
27:05All over Chiayi,
27:06you can find a lot of traditional Taiwanese food.
27:16But some traditional dishes
27:18that truly represent Taiwan
27:20will eventually disappear.
27:24Nobody does what I do
27:26because it's too difficult.
27:28If you choked on the smoke,
27:30you'd rather give up the income
27:31and never want to be in this business.
27:35We're now a third-generation stall.
27:38But I really don't know if it will continue.
27:42If I retire,
27:44maybe I'll travel
27:46and enjoy myself.
27:49Gardening would be great.
27:52But I don't know if I'll be able to
27:54make a living out of it.
27:57I don't know if I'll be able to
27:59make a living out of it.
28:02Gardening would be great.
28:11These days, some people prefer eating lighter.
28:19But the most important thing is that
28:21the spirit of my parents' turkey rice
28:23can be kept and passed down.
28:27Hopefully, the new generation
28:29can embrace our past
28:31and make it work for the next generation.
28:39When you work to an old age,
28:41it can be hard to change the way you work.
28:43But my daughter found a way to convince me.
28:49Grace is now in charge of almost everything.
28:53And we're working together.
28:56This is such a great feeling.
29:01She's a very good boss.
29:05It's great to be her employee.
29:10Being her dad isn't bad either.
29:15I hope I can pass our family's food
29:17to the next generation.
29:20A hundred years from now,
29:22when people think of Taiwan,
29:24I hope they will remember the flavor of Chayi.
29:29That's my heart's dream.
29:55I can think and I can swim.
29:57When you go out, go swim further away,
30:00and I'll be here thinking of ideas.
30:04While the elders are gone, you can do what you want.
30:08When you get back, you'll accept things.
30:10Yeah, people are like that.
30:12We keep squeezing and shaking.
30:14In the end, everything loosens up.
30:16Have things changed that much?
30:18Well, at least it's an improvement.
30:20It's all about improving.
30:24When are you traveling abroad again?
30:27If you let me go, I'll go.
30:30You can go anytime.
30:42Sorry.
30:45Hello?
30:47Hello?
30:48Sorry, I'll call you back later.
30:50I'm filming right now.
30:53I'll call you back later.
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