Dried Bean Curd
Our history about Daxi is mainly based on the interview contents. We also collected relevant information about the dried bean curd. And the main information is from Lee Chung-er's article per his study about "the Folk Customs and Food culture of Da Xī Dou Gān." Due to the expansion of tourism and the innovation of dried bean curd, Daxi Dried Bean Curd has become well-known in Taiwan. Daxi Dried Bean Curd is savory and chewy food which is made of soy beans. Thanks to tourism, bean curd has become popular and the demand of this food item has increased. In 1964, Shimen Reservoir was built and our government turned it into a tourist spot. Because of this, more and more tourists came to Daxi. In 1975, President Chiang Kai-Shek passed away, and his coffin was put in Daxi Cihu mausoleum. There have been hundreds of people paying homage to the late President Chiang in Daxi every day. From then on, Cihu, Daxi Old Street and Shimen Reservoir have become tourist attractions. With the expansion of tourism, the import of the beans went up sharply from 1975 to 1978. In addition, former President Chiang Ching-Kuo visited Daxi Old Street many times and was frequently interviewed by reporters during his stay here, which could be one of the reasons why Daxi dried bean curd became more popular with more and more people visiting here. With the booming tourism, dried bean curd business owners diversify their products to meet the customers’ needs. Using the original black dried bean curd as the basis, dried bean curd manufacturers continue generating more products with various flavors. In 1990, the dried bean curd business owners in Daxi cooperated with people in the same business in China by jointly holding a Tofu Culture Festival. Both regions benefitted from this event.
In addition, Daxi Old Street is a famous tourist attraction and also a region where the local industrial culture is intensively developed. In the Old Street, there exist buildings of the Baroque style along with buildings of local cultural features. Therefore, Daxi Old Street has been the representative of the local architecture in its long history. Visitors are attracted by the unique taste of dried bean curd in each store. They can also find some traditional toys and/or snacks when shopping in the Old Street. In short, it is worth visiting Daxi, a nice place with rich cultural resources.
||-former President Chiang Ching-kuo
Conclusion
There is a proverb in Daxi, “Eat dried bean curd, and you can be a high-ranking official.” For Daxi residents, it kind of means they rely on and are proud of Daxi Dried Bean Curd. Every year, Daxi dried bean curd store owners get together for a special period to make a huge dried bean curd at the temple, wishing for prosperity. After the ceremony, they share the dried bean curd with others, which has a meaning: keeping safe forever.
The unique flavor and texture of Daxi Dried Bean Curd has been famous for a long time, mainly because of its good water quality and cleanness. Daxi Dried Bean Curd is not only the common food for the locals but also one of the favorite snacks for the tourists. The dried bean curd stores continue to develop new and unique flavors, offering a variety of choices to the consumers. People can buy the products in the stores in Daxi or through on-line stores. Thus, Daxi Dried Bean Curd has become a kind of national food.