Fermenting Hope:

Midwinter (late January to early February) is the coldest time of the year, and is also when the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop is busy fermenting red yeast rice.

Early one morning, the weather is wet and cold, with rain pouring down outside. Chairwoman Lin Yuxia looks a little anxious, because a colleague has unexpectedly taken the day off and she has to ­ferment red yeast rice from nearly 35 kilograms of short-grained glutinous rice all by herself. She needs to steam the rice, let it cool, mix in the starter culture, and put it in jars, to complete the first stage of the process.

Red yeast rice cakes with longans are one of the most popular products sold at the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop.

Post-disaster resilience

The devastating Jiji Earthquake of September 21, 1999 was caused by a rupture of the Chelungpu Fault, which runs through Shigang. With its small population and numerous old houses, Shigang’s per-capita death rate from the quake was the highest in all of Taiwan, and the local economy was left paralyzed.

During the post-disaster reconstruction period Lu Yu-mei, who at the time was chairwoman of the Shigang Women’s Association, got the then Council of Labor Affairs (today’s Ministry of Labor) to offer a vocational training class in the area to allow quake survivors to learn a skill. In 2000 the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop Cooperative recruited 20 individuals from the local government’s home economics class, and with the help of a government grant they together established the shop.

Chairwoman Lin Yuxia (left) and former Chairwoman Lu Yu-mei are the pillars of the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop.

From subsidies to independence

At first, the 20 founders earned little, with each individual taking home only about NT$5,000‡7,000 a month. Still, everybody was an “owner.”

From 2005 to 2007, they got support from the government’s Multi-Employment Promotion Program and finally turned a decent profit. Even when the financial aid ended, things steadily improved and they transformed from being subsidized to being fully independent.

In 2005 the business joined the Tian Mama program, with its system of evaluations once every two years (now every six years). Lu Yu-mei says frankly that the evaluations were not a source of stress but instead sparked a determination not to be “the rotten apple that spoils the whole barrel” for Tian Mama.

Grace Juang, then deputy minister of the Hakka Affairs Council, offered a crucial suggestion: Serve red yeast rice cakes as “tea pastries” rather than the heavy, filling rice cakes Hakkas have traditionally consumed. The shop’s operators launched premium-quality gift packs featuring red yeast rice cakes, and today these have become one of their most popular products.

After consulting with professors at Hungkuang and Shih Chien universities, the women of the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop learned that at high temperatures, red yeast mold becomes increasingly inactive or even enters a dormant state. Based on this scientific guidance, when they make their “red yeast king oyster mushrooms” or “red yeast drunken chicken,” they first stir-fry and season the ingredients, but only just before removing the food from the wok do they stir in red yeast, preserving its aroma and nutritional value. The photo shows red yeast drunken chicken rolls.

From independence to giving back

At one point they also offered catering services and set up stands in traditional markets. Today, dining and souvenir gifts each account for half of their revenues.

Over time, Lu suggests, the greatest sense of accomplishment for those involved has not been the income per se, but “helping many families.” During a time of crisis and despair, the ability to contribute to the household income allowed these moms to reclaim their dignity as women.

The transformation from being reticent at home to having a stronger voice has not been determined by how much these women have made, but has been due to their possessing an income-generating skill rather than always “putting their hands out” for money. This has led to a change in their status in the family. In dealing with people and business matters at the restaurant, or going out to set up a market stand or cater an event, they have seen and learned a lot, giving them all greater self-confidence.

Even more heartwarming is that the shop has become involved in public welfare activities. They set aside profits for kids’ scholarships and lunches for needy schoolchildren. Also, at midday every Monday, the shop hosts local elderly for a hearty free meal, injecting warmth and joy into the community.

“Perhaps after several years people will be exhausted and the shop will go out of business,” says Lu with tranquility. After more than two decades, the staff have aged, and unavoidably the number of people involved has sunk to single digits.

Nonetheless, the Shigang Traditional Cuisine Shop not only carries forward Hakka dietary culture, it manifests the Hakka spirit of mutual aid and cooperation. This is its most precious asset.

The Secret of Honeycomb Cakes

Honeycomb cakes look on the outside like Taiwanese brown sugar cakes, and they offer the same classic sweet flavor and sticky texture.

However, Lu Yu-mei stresses that the two are “very different.” The main ingredients in honeycomb cakes are condensed milk, honey, brown sugar, flour, and baking soda. When baking soda is heated, it produces carbon dioxide that bubbles up to form dense, small holes like a honeycomb, from which this food gets its name. Meanwhile, when baked at high temperatures the lactose in the condensed milk gives off a caramel fragrance, so the cakes have the aroma of milk, caramel, and honey.

After the Jiji Earthquake of September 21, 1999, members of a home economics class in Shigang turned their hands to making rice cakes, and have since carved out a niche for themselves. (courtesy of Lu Yu-mei)

The process for making red yeast rice:

Steam the rice and let it cool.

Mix in red yeast mold starter culture.

Place it in jars to ferment.