Blue Collar Breakfast, Taichung Style.

It's important to have rituals, especially for breakfast.

Everytime I visit my Dad in the little university neighborhood along Wuquan South Road in Taichung, breakfast that first morning has just gotta be at the tiny, busy little sidewalk eatery across the street. 

I think I started coming here in 2011. That's Dad behind me.

This Saturday morning I walked under puffy clouds through scooter traffic and birdsong, past a Buddhist funeral. The breakfast crew were hard at work cooking on piping hot griddles three feet across as well as a stirring a cauldron of steaming hot soy milk. 

Sleepy college students, weekend workers and families with little kids lined up or ate at tiny tables. Others did grab-and-go, balancing bags and boxes on their scooters. On weekdays you'll see nice suits and high heels on customers, who then pop their helmets on and scoot away.

I like Taichung.

Unlike sleek, modern, breathtaking Taipei, Taichung is a bit more chill. Old folks still speak Taiwan hua here, and half the street businesses seem to be scooter mechanics and eateries to feed those mechanics. If Chicago and pre-Rust Belt Detroit had a kid, it might look like Taichung. 

My grandfather the rice scientist went to the big Ag University here in the 1920s when it was run by the Japanese colonial government.  Today, Taichung is busy yet un-assuming, a mix of working class, government, and university folk, with roots deeply in agricultural traditions.

Potsticker, fried egg, and turnip cake with hot soy milk. McDonalds can suck it. 

Blue Collar Breakfast

I'm buying for Dad and me this morning, so let's see: fried eggs with Taiwanese catsup (a little tangier and translucent than USA style), enormous potstickers, delicate scallion pancakes, and luo bo gao or savory turnip cakes.  Warm and only slightly sweet, a cup of soy milk is very nice with this breakfast.

Textures and colors of comfort food...

I lug it all back to his tiny apartment and we munch and enjoy the early morning sun. Now we're fortified and ready for whatever the day brings!