Opening a shop is an attitude towards life. "the island call shop is not only a bookstore, but also a community tofu workshop, and food is the call of the island."

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"The common bookstores are books and coffee. We are books and soy milk." Min Hua, one of the founders of the island huce shop, will make soy milk into dense foam, slowly pour into Luye red oolong tea, and then serve with salted bean curd, or you can order a cup of watermelon soy milk, so that fruit and bean fragrance naturally meet, while enjoying a quiet moment with books.

Minhua hand-made bittern tofu (Photo_Lin Yijun) hiding in the secret base behind Chiayi Railway Station: Island Huze Store

After leaving the station at the back of Chiayi Railway Station, walk along Chuwen Street for about eight minutes, and come to the intersection with Peixing Street. An old house with Tiffany blue and wood construction comes into view. On the second floor, there is a banner saying "There is high price, no home". On the first floor, there is "We support non-basic reform". The whole old house seems to have become an advertising wall of social ideas.

When you enter the old house, it is all wood, from pillars, tables and chairs, cabinets, etc., all constructed of wood. The display cabinet facing the door is half book, the other half is daily groceries. After passing through the bookcase and bar counter, there was a hidden compartment at the back, where one could sit on the sofa or wooden chair and read without being disturbed.

Public reading areas painted bright yellow, with chairs and cushions, where you can take off your shoes and find a comfortable seat to read. "This used to be a friend's coffee shop. After we took over, we changed it into a bookstore." Min Hua and Shi Han said as they sat down at the big table.

Daohu Bookstore, located near the rear station of Chiayi Railway Station (Photo_Lin Yijun) Bookstore, Daohu is both tofu and island calling

The two founders of the shop are Min Hua, who makes tofu and soy milk, and Shih Han, who runs a bookstore. Neither of them is from Chiayi, but Shih Han chose to settle in Chiayi because he had lived in Chiayi and liked the atmosphere of Chiayi. The two have very different personalities, and opening a shop is a dream shared by both of them.

Originally Shihan wanted to open a bookstore, Minhua wanted to open a community tofu shop, so he created a book and tofu coexistence "Island Book Shop". "The island call is the Taiwanese pronunciation of tofu, and the book store is a bookstore. These are the two main elements of the store."

In addition to the pronunciation of tofu in Taiwanese, the island call also has another meaning: "The birth of this space is the call from the island." Min Hua said that there are all kinds of things happening on the land, and people everywhere are also shouting their concerns, whether it is agricultural land, pollution or food production. The island calls people who live together to see these big and small things that are happening.

The two founders of the island's book store: Min Hua (left), who is responsible for making tofu, and Shi Han (right), who opened a bookstore (photo_Lin Yijun). From the science park to the farmer's market, the engineer changed to become a tofu maker.

Before opening her shop, Min Hua was an engineer at the Hsinchu Science Park. About eight years ago, she felt that life was a little boring. At that time, she was invited by a friend to join the Wilderness Conservation Association and came into contact with agricultural and environmental land issues. "I was living in Hsinchu at that time, and I would start visiting the Bamboo Dragonfly Market on weekends."

As for how to enter the world of beans, tofu and soy milk? Min Hua said that before he came into contact with the environment and agriculture, he had gradually stopped eating meat. Over the years, soy products became an indispensable channel for protein intake. After becoming a market partner, he also went to the Hopu Agricultural Market to take tofu classes, from apprentice, assistant, assistant to master, and even served as an assistant teacher in tofu classes.

Min Hua participated in tofu class, planted the seeds of opening tofu shop in his heart, and then went to Bean House and Chuanlong Tofu Shop for internship respectively."Chuanlong Tofu Shop is more like the tofu shop in my mind." She admitted that the tofu shop she wanted didn't have to be too large, and the simpler the appliance and model, the more she could