Market Traditions
TienTienShin Evening Market
No. 508, Mingcheng 1st Road, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City
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Chia Chen
Food & Culture, Kaohsiung
We’ve been coming to this market since we were little because it’s close to home. My mom would drive me, my brother, and sometimes our cousins here for groceries.
We the kids were always excited to go because while my mom worked through her shopping list, she would give us some coins to buy snacks. I remember how difficult it was to decide what to get. On busy days, my mom would assign each of us a task, and we would scatter to different corners of the market to fulfill our missions.
I liked wandering around, smelling the food while watching them being made. Lots of my favorite foods could be found in the market, so sometimes I just stood and stared, wishing that I could take some home for free. My mom knew most of the vendors we visited, and I liked listening to her chat with them. It was always casual; they usually speak in Taiwanese.
As I got older and busier with school, I stopped visiting as often. Now that I think about it, I should set aside time to revisit TienTienShin with my mom. ✺
TienTienShin Evening Market is a bustling outdoor market featuring a diverse mix of vendors, offering everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to cooked meals, traditional snacks, and clothing.
My Favortie Apple Tea
Mr. Wish Fresh Fruit Tea
Multiple locations across Taiwan
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Hsin-jung Sun
Food & Culture
There was a breakfast place near where I lived when I was little. I always ordered their apple tea whenever I went there, but after it closed, I could not find the same taste anywhere else. Apple tea from other places was always slightly different from how I remembered it.
One day in high school, my friend offered me a sip of the drink she was having, and it tasted just like the apple tea in my memory! I almost cried at that moment. The name of the drink was Fresh Pulp Apple Tea, from Mr. Wish’s menu.
After that, I kept ordering from them throughout my high school years despite all the trouble, including the school’s ban on disposable cups. I would just sneak the drink in. I always had it with regular sugar and no ice, and the people who worked there remembered me and how I liked my apple tea, even after I graduated.
When I moved to Taipei for college, Mr. Wish locations became harder to find. Still, I would take a 40-minute bus ride to the nearest one just to get the apple tea. In hindsight, I’m actually not sure what made me so persistent. I don’t know if it really was my love for the drink or if I drank it to remind myself of who I was and how I felt growing up.
In 2019, however, they made some adjustments to their menu, and Fresh Pulp Apple Tea was no longer on it. I was surprisingly calm at the moment but got extremely emotional sometime after when the realization hit me: I might never have the chance to taste that apple tea again.
Although Mr. Wish no longer has my favorite apple tea, I still stop by whenever I pass one. When people think of Taiwanese beverages, bubble tea is always the first thing that comes to mind. But for me, it will always be Fresh Pulp Apple Tea—the taste I am once again in search for, hoping that one day, I’ll find it again. ✺
Mr. Wish is a Taiwanese beverage chain renowned for its fresh fruit teas and innovative drinks. Established in 2007, the company has expanded internationally, with locations in Taiwan, China, the United States, Canada, and other countries.