Yin Yin Grass Jelly / Oil Head Egg Cake / Pin Hua Douhua Introduction
Jiayi Xian Cao Bo's Legend. The story of the taste of packaged grass jelly, "Xian Cao Bo continued to wait for customers at the original location after the business closed," is pieced together by local residents. What does the successor, a young man named Eric, have to say? He recalls that when he was selling egg cakes at Yi Ying, the grass jelly vendor had already closed for ten years, and the old man was initially unhappy about someone taking over his spot. Eric called him "grandpa." The grass jelly vendor was quite old, and after retiring, he would walk from home to Yi Ying every day, seemingly "waiting for customers," but in reality, it contained the loneliness of the elderly. He came here to chat with people and was accompanied by noisy young people... After spending time together, one day grandpa asked Eric: "Do you want to learn how to make grass jelly?" And thus the story continued. Grandpa insisted on using relatively troublesome sweet potato starch to set the grass jelly. The young man practiced hard for a long time before he received grandpa's approval to start selling. When they opened the shop named "Yi Ying Xian Cao," grandpa was still alive and would occasionally come by to "inspect" and assure old customers that this shop was personally taught by him. The friendship between the young man and grandpa has become a beautiful story. A few years ago, the grass jelly vendor passed away, and Eric regretted not preserving grandpa's appearance and smile, so he could only ask a friend to paint a portrait in memory. He also recreated the original flavor of packaged grass jelly to pay tribute! Image source: Tourism Department of Chiayi City Government｜Photography: Maggie
