Jiufen Shih-Mi Store Introduction
At this restaurant, you can always hear the powerful melodies of the singer Wu Bai while enjoying steaming stinky tofu, and you may suddenly ask, "Boss! Why did you name your restaurant 'Shimi Restaurant'?" Shimi Restaurant is the first stinky tofu shop in Jiufen. The walls of the shop are adorned with dozens of Taiwanese proverbs, allowing guests to understand the wisdom of Taiwan people. The wooden couplet on the wall, "Taste the delicious food from around the world, find the wisdom of Taiwan," is the boss's motivation for naming it "Shimi Restaurant." The boss wishes to post these proverbs in the shop because he has been interested in riddles since childhood, often blurting out sayings and even buying books to learn about proverbs dictionaries, eventually turning his shop into a "proverb classroom." Besides proverbs, the boss also tells great stories, often engaging deeply with customers about various tales and is well-versed in the unique proverbs of the Jiufen area. The boss states that modern people live in a technological and commercial society, which gives them no opportunity to connect with Taiwan's culture and wisdom—Taiwanese proverbs; therefore, he wants everyone to know the famous sayings passed down by ancestors and appreciate their meanings. Another purpose is to create topics for dining guests to guess or discuss the meanings of the proverbs, reminiscing about the Taiwanese proverbs spoken by their grandparents.
