The produce at the friendly market is delicious and tasty

Text / Zhang Shuning

At three in the morning, before even stepping through the door of Huatiancuo, the rich aroma of soy milk filled the air. Peeking in through the window, I could see Sister Lihua bustling about every corner of the kitchen.

"You really can get up this early? All right, come help boil the soy milk, and in a bit we can teach you how to make tofu and tofu pudding."

Boiling soy milk takes a very long time, and every step requires a great deal of patience. The soybeans must first be blended in a juicer, then poured into a special machine that uses centrifugal force to filter out the okara, and finally the strained clear milk is simmered over low heat until the bubbles on the surface disappear. During the simmering process, it must be stirred constantly until it comes to a boil to keep the bottom of the pot from scorching. The filtered-out okara is an excellent nitrogen fertilizer for plants, and with a little creativity it can also be turned into healthy, delicious dishes such as croquettes and bread.

And the Lanyang River, which nurtures the land, had at some point become a vast watermelon field with a high pesticide use rate. Growing watermelons requires a great deal of pesticide; from seedling to harvest, every stage depends on pesticides and chemical fertilizers for control. And these pesticides, applied on the riverbed, flow along with the river water into the irrigation channels of the Lanyang Plain, severely damaging the ecology along the way.

"Watermelons on the riverbank flats are completely ruined when a typhoon hits, but if the harvest succeeds the profits are considerable, so growing watermelons is also commonly called 'gambling on watermelon divination blocks.'" Farmers rent large areas of riverbank flats from the Water Resources Agency at low land prices, which not only damages the ecological environment but also adds to the hidden worries when floods strike.

Behind the sweet watermelons, is it really necessary to use so much pesticide? Even after traveling all around the island, I still cannot get a positive answer. So my journey with Moli will continue, and I will keep writing many stories of coexisting in friendship with the land.