"you write a proposal to tour taiwan, if they like your idea, they give you money to tour!" wawa very eagerly said to me one day, and showed me the website. Our discussion ended by discussing what her theme/topic is going to be and I should have some other topic so we wouldn't repeat. "Don't steal it!" she said. I nodded and agreed and went back to the floor of my living room and really wondered what I could write.
After graduation, I have a part time job as a research assistant in the university. My delay in the search of a real career is often blamed on the unupdated online portfolio. This opportunity reminded me of this book "the diary of abandoning job" by 買買氏. She quit her job and decide to travel around Taiwan in search of more 'life' and 'human'. So I decided to look through the stuff that really touched me and chose this following theme:
"Born in Taiwan, raised in Canada, many of my childhood foods such as pudding (統一布丁), wheat black tea (麥香紅茶), and guava juice (芭樂汁), regardless whether they have tainted food or not, what people put into their bodies has seen a gradual increase in publicity in the past few years due to recent news attention to intentionally contanimated food, such as Plasticizer (素化劑), baby milk power and most recently, 3-MCPD (單氯丙二醇 ). However, there is another aspect to Taiwanese food that has not been seen much international attention: the stories behind Taiwanese farmers who care about the food quality and people's health. On my trip, I plan on visiting, learning from, and communicating the hard work and efforts of those who, for example, wish to keep Taiwanese rice a safe food to eat, or who care about the environment enough to abandon their farm for the sake of some endangered birds. The stories of these silent providers should be instead be loud and proud"
Due to the generosity of TaiwanTrek, I have the opportunity to visit these local farmers and fuel reports that highlight their efforts and cares and thus bring attention to the natural, fresh, caring and organic local food of Taiwan.
