Slow Food Treasure Hunt in Taichung: A Visit to Tukurri
"Tukuli" is the name of a neighborhood community in Taichung City. Tukuli is close to NewsMarket, a social enterprise news outlet that supports local good farmers (located above the Donghai Shuyuan independent bookstore), an ice cream shop selling local flavors, a slow-living restaurant that introduces publications supporting Taiwan's agriculture, a second-hand vintage furniture store run by young people from old Taichung, an animation flight hall, craft workshops, places for wine and coffee tasting, and so on. So when I am not writing, teaching, or researching, I push my baby stroller with my daughter Little Peach and think, enjoying the quiet and beautiful time strolling here.
Fleeting Glimpses of Life
Across a busy Zhongming South Road from the community where I live, but stepping into Wuquan 5th Street and turning into the alley, there is a magic that shifts time and space, making one feel as if one has arrived in the Japanese countryside, strolling through a small city and small community in Nagano. If there is time, go to Rihe 31 to taste the daily-changing surprises and good Taiwanese tea, or go to Donghai Shuyuan independent bookstore to find a good cup of coffee to drink and a good book to read, go to is Gelato to eat rice ice cream belonging to Taiwan's local flavors topped with espresso, or tea-flavored ice cream sprinkled with osmanthus, and various fruits joyfully displaying the fragrance and sweet-sour notes of the four seasons of the southern islands. It is a generous gift from the land, the farmers' careful cultivation, and the ice maker's creativity that together create that happy taste of "how cool and lovely autumn is" on the tongue.
A few days ago, I was writing and did not have time to cook lunch, and I discovered in this area a delicious mentaiko toasted bread brunch shop, which closes at 3 p.m. There is also "Sixth Street," focused on life objects, introducing stories about Taiwanese elderly women's handmade Hakka floral tissue covers and Japanese handmade pottery masters. At Wuquan West Road and Cunzhong Street, there are always city lectures about the relationship between Japan and Taichung. The city of Taichung can never escape the shadow of its former self as a "Little Kyoto." Walking among Liuchuan, Luchuan, Meichuan, and Mayuantou Creek, I occasionally recall fleeting glimpses of my short time studying abroad in Kyoto.
