A Single Umeboshi | What It’s Like To Be Taiwanese
What is it like to be Taiwanese? I challenged myself to express this, and this and the next post are the result.
Although strictly speaking a personal exploration unrelated to meaning or money – I found it meaningful to ask ‘Who am I?’ from a more historical perspective, and I wonder if you would too. The book ‘Finding Oprah’s Roots’ has an interesting thesis – that each of us is here as a direct result of the actions and lives of each of our ancestors.
So a possibly useful question becomes – in what way did Grandma live her life for me? Where does the relevance of my grandpa’s collaboration with the Japanese? Could that be connected with my own itinerant wanderings in Japan, working and connecting with my future-husband?
And how does this line of questioning impact my business? Does it? If it does, how?
The exercise of expressing what it’s like to be Taiwanese gave me a sense of belonging that’s different from attaching to a tribe. It gave me a palpable connection to a thread of time instead.
‘Ancestors’ is a word that figures largely in the bringing up of a young Asian girl – respect your ancestors – kneel before your elders – burn money for your ancestors to spend in the afterlife. I have likely avoided contemplating the word too deeply as a result.
But the below is a small (sour?) start at a different approach. What do you think of these two personal Taiwanese vignettes? How are some of your own ‘historical’ stories worth excavating even if not in public?
Begin ‘A Single Umeboshi’…
My mother once told me this story with a small smile and twinkle in her eye. I wasn’t fooled, I think it actually happened.
"You know AnZe*, when we were small, sometimes we only had rice to eat, and a single umeboshi** in the middle, that was all.
And then sometimes, when we didn’t have any umeboshi, we would just draw an umeboshi instead, and eat like that."
*My English name is Andrea, but of course my mom would use my Chinese name, AnZe (peaceful philosopher), or Zui-ah (Taiwanese nickname) when telling stories like this.
**Equivalent to a pickle in Western culture, umeboshi are very salty, very sour pickled plums, originally from Japan and popular also in Taiwan.
Usually eaten with rice just as Mom described it, a single umeboshi is still often served in the middle of a lunchbox to recreate the look of the Japanese flag.
Of course, because they really are incredibly sour, just ask anyone who’s familiar with them. It doesn’t matter if you’ve swallowed your last bite of Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings… should your mind call up the thought of an umeboshi, your mouth will immediately flood with saliva.
There’s absolutely no stopping it, even as I write. All the better to eat plain rice with, right Mom?
This little story of the single umeboshi seems to me to encapsulate so much about being Taiwanese, and a Taiwanese point of view.
