Eat local organic vegetarian meals at a budget price, available for 120 yuan
At noon, in a small alley next to Songjiang Market, this conversation unfolds: "I guarantee this burdock. Want to try it raw?"
With that, the owner, his face brimming with confidence, quickly brings over a slender, fresh burdock root, and 3 or 4 customers send it into their mouths, skin and all.
"It's delicious! Why is your burdock so juicy? The ones I buy at the market are all crunchy!" "This is a variety contract-grown with farmers in Taiwan, China by a Japanese company. Only the thin ones are kept here; the rest, the thick ones, all go to Japan, so of course it tastes good."
The conversation above is not taking place in a vegetable market, but in a small restaurant called "Eat Local, Taiwan Vegetarian". On the transparent glass window is a map of Taiwan, from north to south, from west to east, printed with photos of the producers, just like that uncooked burdock root: pure, original and completely transparent.
Finding ingredients: raid the suppliers' factories directly
By saving money where it can be saved, plus quick, adaptable action, "Eat Local" has successfully carved out a local identity. Add the full support of its best chef, his wife Li Lingyan, and it already has loyal customers who come every day.
Huang Guangxian, who lives nearby, has eaten there so often she has become a friend. When she visited yesterday afternoon, she even brought the owner a bag of dried pineapple. She could not stop praising the place, saying that plum juice with rock sugar added usually leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but here it does not at all, showing that the owner is careful even with the small details.
Lin Langqiu admits that the light flavors are harder for young people to accept, and although the restaurant is gradually turning a profit, customer numbers are still unstable. "But facing the same performance pressure, I now walk more steadily," he says. In the future he hopes to open more branches and use ingredients from more small farmers. "Really, who am I to do this? I have no real skills at all; it is the farmers' raw ingredients that are good. Eating good food is the best health care."
"Eat Local, Taiwan Vegetarian" restaurant information https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=249617358549608
(This article is sponsored by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation to cover personnel costs, but it has no say over news topics or reporting and writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)