文/圖：劉力嘉

 

如果你想要認識台灣城市的精髓，那就去菜市場吧！
菜市場裡散發著無窮的活力，總是鬧哄哄的充斥著此起彼落的討價還價聲，還有小販親切向老顧客噓寒問暖、閒話家常。
水果攤上堆得像山一樣高的桃子—小販吆喝著不甜免錢喔。
現蒸的包子饅頭飄著熱騰騰的香氣—今天早上才做好的，要黑糖還是原味？
更有一盤盤跟阿嬤口紅一樣鮮豔的小番茄排排坐在攤子上對你招手。
有時剛到一個城市，還不知道從何開始認識起時，我也有那麼一刻猶豫，想回頭往超級市場去—那裡有排列整齊包在塑膠袋裡的麵包、蔬菜標價清楚的被包在保麗龍盒裡，那是我熟悉的世界：乾淨、整齊、安全。
然而，菜市場才是真正擁有著生命與韻律，讓人無法拒絕的地方！那和我媽年紀差不多的小販熱情的對著我笑，邀請我試吃他賣的醃梅子，我也對著她笑，伸手接過她的梅子，即便手沒有很乾淨，手指也因為拿了梅子而黏黏的，不過沒關係，生活本來就應該充滿混亂的活力哪！

 

This is not the Supermarket

If you’re looking for the heart of any Taiwanese city, head over to the marketplace.
It’s bound with restless energy, bustling with gossip and barter,
the vendors cheerfully greeting old customers and asking after their children.
There are mountains of peaches (of course they’re sweet — or your money back!);
Aroma of hot steamed buns (I made them just this morning! Do you want brown sugar or plain?); Trays of beautiful cherry tomatoes as red as my grandmother’s lipstick.
As a newcomer in the city, I didn’t know where to start, or what the etiquette was,
and for a fleeting moment I wanted to turn around and head back to the supermarket,
where the bread is sold in plastic bags and lined up neatly on the shelf, and the vegetables are wrapped in styrofoam containers, each with their own price tags.
That was the world I was familiar with. Clean and orderly. Safe.
But this, the market, here — this has a heartbeat, an unrelenting rhythm, and it called to me irresistibly. I caught the eyes of a food vendor, my mother’s age. She smiled at me, and held out a sample of the pickled plum she was selling. I smiled back, inched closer to her, and took the piece of plum. My fingers became sticky in the process — but that’s alright, I thought. Life is supposed to be messy.

 

 

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