Legislator Ho Hsin-chun Encounters Jute Leaves While Canvassing, Calls It the Taste of a Taichung Summer Memory

The International Booker Prize win for "Taiwan Travelogue" has brought attention to Taichung's culinary specialties, as described by author Yang Shuang-tzu. DPP Legislator Ho Hsin-chun, while campaigning at Daya Market today, spotted a vendor preparing jute leaves (ma-yi). She shared that ma-yi soup is her favorite and a nostalgic summer taste of Taichung. Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-tzu and translator Chin Ling won the International Booker Prize for the novel "Taiwan Travelogue." The book documents many traditional Taiwanese foods, including rice noodle slivers (mitaimu), sweet bean shaved ice, and ma-yi soup. While canvassing votes at Daya Market today, Ho Hsin-chun was surprised to see a vendor sorting jute leaves. She noted that Yang Shuang-tzu's "Taiwan Travelogue" captures many of Taiwan's food and life memories in Taichung, with ma-yi soup being a very characteristic summer dish of the city, a traditional flavor she has loved since childhood. Ho Hsin-chun mentioned the process of preparing ma-yi, which involves repeated rubbing and washing after being picked, then cooking it with sweet potatoes or whitebait to create a rich, smooth, bittersweet summer soup that helps cool one down. Ma-yi soup is a summer memory of Taichung.