From colored coconut balls to stewed pig blood with rice, we can open five senses from cooking and realize the dream and homesickness of migrant workers.

103 share

In the third section of Zhongshan North Road in Taipei, there is a place called "Philippine Street". Every Sunday when migrant workers have a holiday, it is very lively. In addition to Southeast Asian grocery stores selling all kinds of hometown flavors, there are holiday banks that allow migrant workers to send goods and send money home, and the church also arranges mass sessions in Tagalog.

In order to bridge the gap between Taiwanese and Southeast Asian migrant workers, One-Forty, a non-profit organization that has long been concerned about the issue of migrant workers in Southeast Asia, has held a series of activities called "Southeast Asian Sunday," hoping to experience the leisure life and food culture of migrant workers through street tours and kitchen parties.

On this day, when I came to Philippine Street, apart from tasting Southeast Asian cuisine, I also heard migrant workers share their experience of working in Taiwan, their favorite snacks and cuisine, share songs from their hometown, and start a dialogue with both sides in life.

In addition to foreigners, there are also parents with children to participate, and the staff are introducing the environment of Philippine Street to the participants. (photo courtesy of One-Forty) A tour of the neighborhood from the grocery store to the buffet

On this day's block tour, we first stepped into the chain stores in Southeast Asia. Although this side is known as Philippine Street, goods from other Southeast Asian countries can also be found in the store. In addition to all kinds of daily necessities, what attracts the most attention is still the food area, all kinds of instant noodles, snacks, cans, seasonings. When a group of Taiwanese went into a store in Southeast Asia, they found everything new, but they didn't know how to do it, so they had to ask the migrant workers on the side for advice. they also enthusiastically recommended their favorite instant noodles and biscuits.

From the raw materials and taste of snacks, we can peep into the unique products, climate and food culture of Southeast Asian countries. The brand and taste of potato chips alone have dazzled people. What is more special is that unlike those in Europe and the United States, potato chips are all made of potatoes. Here, you can also find tree potato chips unique to Southeast Asia, which taste thinner and lower in calories.

In addition to potato chips, a variety of dried fruits made from tropical fruits rich in Southeast Asia, dried mangoes, dried durian, dried pineapple, ⋯⋯golden, orange and creamy dried banana slices can also be found in the snack area. People can't help drooling at the thought of their sweet and sour taste.

There are a variety of snacks and dried fruits on the shelves of shops in Southeast Asia. (photo taken by Zhang Yuxin) Jin Wanwan Building looks like Tinker Bell's treasure bag.

Walking into the Jin Wanwan Building on one side, it was as if he had entered another time and space. It is not so much a store, but more like Tinker Bell's treasure bag, no matter what needs the migrant workers have, they can be satisfied here. The beauty salon exudes a strong smell of hair carving perfume, which is a gift for female migrant workers to reward their hard work.

Children's stuffed toys and sneakers are placed in the glass window, which is a way for migrant workers as parents to dote on their children. One side of the Philippine buffet restaurant, domineering with stainless steel pot filled with freshly baked dishes, more than a dozen words lined up, in order to meet the homesick taste buds of migrant workers.

Among the dishes of the buffet, there is a pot of unusual color-stewed pig's blood (Pork Dinuguan), showing a color between grayish black, dark red and brown, which is difficult to define. The practice is to cut the pork into small pieces, stir-fry with spices such as onions and garlic, and stew with water, vinegar and pig's blood, and the strange color of this dish comes from pig's blood.

The purpose of adding pig blood is to make the sauce more full-bodied, while vinegar adds obvious sour taste to the stew, which is very appetizing and suitable for the hot and humid climate of the Philippines. Volunteers who have been to the Philippines said that stewed pig's blood is a classic and common local dish. Dig up a spoonful of stewed pig's blood and put it on the rice, just like the Philippine Steamed Rice with Red-Cooked Pork.

The stewed pig's blood is sour and full-bodied. Although the color is not very pleasant, it is very delicious. (photo taken by Zhang Yuxin) Open five senses and walk into the life of migrant workers

There are also many fried food stalls in the building, where packets of fried pig skins can be seen. In addition to adding fried pig skins to the cuisine, Filipinos prefer and simply use them as snacks. In addition, you can also see clusters of freshly fried bananas and jelly, as well as dishes that we are more familiar with, that is, golden and crisp fried spring rolls with bean sprouts, carrots and other vegetables, which is called Lumpia in the Philippines, which is very close to the pronunciation of "embellish cake" in southern Fujian. From this we can see that as a Southeast Asian country, the food culture of the Philippines is also influenced by the history of Chinese immigrants.

In addition to eating and drinking all the way, during the One-Forty neighborhood tour, people must also open their five senses and enter the business circle. Not only do they passively listen to the guides and explanations, but they must interact directly with migrant workers according to different tasks. It may be asking about the experience of migrant workers coming to work in Taiwan, asking them to recommend their favorite snacks and dishes, or sharing a ballad from their hometown. These invitations seem abrupt, but they open up a lot of dialogue at the scene.