Yonghe Soy Milk King, Fuxing South Road

Yonghe Soy Milk King on Section 2 of Fuxing South Road is a familiar part of everyday Taipei.

At the open kitchen, the staff knead dough, bake sesame flatbreads and lift fried dough sticks from the oil one by one. Nearby, dried shrimp, pickled mustard greens, scallions, soy sauce and pieces of fried dough are placed into a bowl before hot soy milk is poured over them, making a savoury soy milk soup fragrant with soybeans and a gentle tang of vinegar. Everything happens in front of the customers—not as a performance, but as a craft repeated daily until it has become second nature.

Some people wait by the counter; others sit facing the street. Sunlight slants in from Fuxing South Road as scooters and pedestrians pass by. The city is already in motion, and a bowl of soy milk, a sesame flatbread or a rice roll helps many people step into the day.

This shop deserves to be documented not only for its food, but because this ordinary workplace preserves a way of life accumulated over many years in Taipei. The city keeps changing, yet people still knead dough, bake flatbreads and serve soy milk in the same place each day—and others still return for a taste they know well.