A simple bowl of rice, tasting the true flavor of the rice itself

We need simple things in order to bear the noise.

The first time I looked closely at Changhua was two years ago, when I joined the opposition to the construction of the Kuokuang Petrochemical plant and went alone to Fangyuan Wetland in Changhua County. In Taiwan, China, 80% of eggs, 80% of hard clams, 40% of vegetables and pork, and 30% of rice and other staple foods all come from Changhua. Toxic fallout from the petrochemical plant enters the food production chain through air and water; in the future, not only the air we breathe will be toxic, but even the food we eat may be toxic.

A grassroots share-purchase movement was launched, encouraging people to buy up the wetland together through share purchases so that the wetland could nurture all living things. I also took a stack of share-purchase application forms and went alone to distribute them at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center. Some people advised me not to fight the government, saying it was impossible to win. Some people, upon hearing about food safety, turned and walked away. A mother was chasing her child; I went up to explain my intention and handed the mother an application form. As she said that children absolutely must have safe food to eat, she kept watching over her child; the child had already run off into a future beyond our reach.

We cannot reach our children's future, but we can ensure that in the future they will be safe and sound. That day when I went home, the lamps were already lit; I walked out of the MRT station, exhausted in body and mind, and lay alone on the stone bench beside the station. In the distance, goose-yellow streetlights tried to illuminate the asphalt road, but the heavy damp air floated in midair, and the weak light scattered across the whole sky. The moon was not yet full, yet it led the multitude of stars. Later, the government announced that construction of Kuokuang Petrochemical would be halted; Fangyuan Wetland, the original planned site for Kuokuang Petrochemical, even became a nationally important wetland.

In fact, the whole sky of stars was pulling along the half-round bright moon.

That day at the Cultural Center, the mother simply hoped her child would eat healthily. I can no longer remember the mother's face, but next time you come to Haokecun, I will treat you to a bowl of blanched ban tiao (flat rice noodles). The Haokecun chef grinds zailai rice into a slurry, adds sweet potato starch, and absolutely does not add preservatives or other food additives; Haokecun ban tiao has a high proportion of zailai rice and is served with house-made fried shallot crisp, so you can imagine a rice paddy in a whole array of greens: parrot green, duck-back green, tortoiseshell green, ink green, and white lotus-leaf green.

And the mother, for her part, can let her child eat, whole and complete, a dish of the simplest rice food.

Meinong Haokecun Restaurant

Address: No. 47, Sec. 1, Zhongxing Rd., Sanlin, Luxing Vil., Meinong Dist., Kaohsiung City
Phone: (07)685-1666, 0975-250-950

Website: www.happyhakka.tw
Business hours:
1. Morning: 10:30-14:00
2. Evening: 17:00-21:00