The Cycle of Giving:

Authors

• Sarai Brown

Keywords

cultural immersion, street food, Mandarin interaction

Abstract

On one hot summer day in the middle of a 3-month stint studying Mandarin Chinese at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) in Taichung, Taiwan, my friends and I were desperate to sate our appetites after class, even in the atrociously hot and humid conditions. Most of our little group was drawn to a 牛肉麵 niúròu miàn (beef noodle) shop, but the thought of hot soup on a day like this drove me and a couple of others to continue our search. We stumbled upon another outdoor restaurant—though “restaurant” is perhaps a loose term for the holey-tent-covered food stand with mismatched plastic chairs and stained folding tables. As we struggled to read the hand-written menu, a customer, clearly on a work break with friends, called out to us in English with a simple “Hello” and eagerly waved us in. When I responded in Mandarin, he was delighted and bantered with us as we came in to sit, assuring us that this would be a good meal, seemingly a regular with how he sang praises about the food. The 老闆 lǎobǎn (boss) of the stand brought out some dishes, serving up what was most popular to spare us from struggling through the menu—a breaded pork cutlet with some greens over rice and optional chili oil on the tables in front of us. He also angled the electric fans to blow on us, smiling when we thanked him profusely as sweat dramatically dripped down our faces.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Sarai (2025) "The Cycle of Giving:," BYU Asian Studies Student Journal: Vol. 10, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/asj/vol10/iss1/5