Sun, Mar 23, 2003 page6

• Hsinchuang's baking traditions

  DAYS GONE BY Of the 90 bakeries that lined the streets of Hsinchuang just two remain, producing traditional pastries such as sticky rice and moon cakes

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  Fifty years ago, when daily necessities were scarce, Hsinchuang was northern Taiwan's manufacturing center for local food such as traditional pastries, tofu and barley sugar.

  At its peak, there were about 90 bakeries in town, producing cookies and pastries for local and national retailers.

  

  Wang Ming-chao, owner of the 120-year-old Laoshoonhsiung Bakery, located in Taipei's Hsinchuang District, carefully brushes egg on to traditional wedding cakes.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  In the 1960s, however, Western bakeries arrived in the country and began taking business away from the traditional ones.

  

  Bakers at the Laoshoonhsiung Bakery in Hsinchuang use moulds such as these to make their wide range of cakes.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  Now only two of the traditional bakeries are left on Hsinchuang Street. But this thoroughfare, which runs between Shulin Road and Chungcheng Road, has become a tourism area as part of a Hsinchuang City Government project to offer visitors a taste of the good old days.

  Nestled among the some 200 shops on the 800m street, the Laoshoonhsiung Bakery (老順香) is probably the better known of the two.

  With the economy in the doldrums, Wang Ming-chao (王明朝), the fourth-generation owner of the 120-year-old bakery, said that his shop is still enjoying brisk business.

  "Take yesterday, for example, I sold about 200 pingan cakes (pastry in the shape of turtle symbolizing longevity), 2,000 birthday shoutao (pastry in the shape of peach, also symbolizing longevity) and 120kg of birthday noodles," he said.

  The 19th day of the second month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which fell on Friday, marks the birthday of Kuanyin, the goddess of mercy.

  Other seasonal orders include stuffed sweet dumplings for the Lantern Festival, sticky rice cakes for the Lunar New Year, moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival and spring-roll dough for Tomb Sweeping Day.

  According to Wang, orders for traditional engagement cakes can reach 500 boxes a week.

  In addition to offering traditional pastries, Wang's store also offers western pastries such as birthday cakes and buns.

  Each week Wang sells an average of 15 birthday cakes and 100 month-old birth cakes costing between NT$350 and NT$700 each.

  Quality traditional engagement cakes should have a crispy crust and an aromatic stuffing, sweet or salty, Wang said.

  "While most people prefer traditional stuffing such as red bean paste, white sesame paste and minced pork, we also offer innovative flavors such as green tea, Chinese yam and sticky rice cake," he said.

  Uninterested in school, the 45-year-old Wang became an apprentice at a local bakery at the age of 17.

  Over the past 28 years, Wang said that he has seen the local pastry industry gradually decline.

  "Not many people are interested in traditional pastry any more because there are way more choices of snacks and cakes out there," Wang said. "As old bakers disappear and fewer young people are interested in learning the skills, bakeries in this town are closing down one by one," he said.

  Lin Chih-ming (林啟明), former owner of the Ho-ho Bakery (合和糕餅), is one of the many who have left the business.

  Lin, who now runs a retail store on Chunghua Road in Hsinchuang, closed his bakery in 1987 after some 40 years in business.

  "It took a lot of time and effort to make the pastry and sell them at the same time," said Lin, 70. "Besides, my son is not at all interested in taking over the business."

  Lin's grandfather started the family business some 120 years ago, and Lin began learning how to make traditional Taiwanese pastry when he was eight or nine, he said.

  "It isn't easy to make quality pastries," Lin said. "You need different quantities of ingredients for different weather."

  At peak times, Lin said, all 10 of the family's adults plus five apprentices had to work 22 hours a day to meet demand.

  Lin's grandfather had four sons, who had a total of 18 children. This family of 25 lived in a house where the King Ho-ho Bakery (金合和) now stands.

  King Ho-ho is now run by the son of Lin's late younger brother.

  Lin moved out of the family home to open a bakery of his own at the age of 42, three years after the death of his father.

  "The first eight or nine years were the heyday of my career when I had to work around the clock to make pastries out of five or six bags of flour," Lin said. "However, business has gone downhill the past three or four years."

  Now he reminds himself of better days by making food on special occasions such as Mid-Autumn Festival, when he makes moon cakes for his family.

  Situated at the very end of the Hsinchuang Street, the King Ho-ho Bakery has seen the rise and fall of the town's traditional pastry industry.

  One of the shop's specialties is the famous hsiankuang cake (鹹光餅) -- sweet and slightly salty doughnut-like pastry.

  Lin Shih-wei (林世偉), the fourth-generation owner of the King Ho-ho bakery, said that they did most of their business to advance orders.

  "Like yesterday, we had an order of 400 boxes of engagement cakes and today we're baking 30kg of hsiankuang cakes ordered by a local school teacher," the 39-year-old said.

  As well as traditional pastries such as sticky rice cakes and turtle-shaped pastry, Lin said that his shop also carried a small selection of Western pastries such as toast, buns and birthday cakes.

  Lin took over the family business in 1992 at the age of 28 when his father passed away. He attributed the decline of his family business to the location of the store and falling interest in traditional pastries.

  "Our store used to be in one of the best locations in town because there was a ferry wharf at the back of the house," Lin said.

  The wharf, however, became unusable after silt accumulated in the Tahan River.

  "While there is a night market down the street, things are quiet here, especially after sunset," said Lin's 62-year-old mother.
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