Traditional snack food in Tamsui (Part 9 Agei and iron eggs)

These two are relatively new (from post 1960s) both of them invented in Tamsui. We shall call them nouveau traditional snack food:

(1) 阿給A-gei: It first appeared in 1965. Originally, this was slightly-browned, heat-seared tofu squares known among the Japanese as あぶらあげ (abura-agei, oily tofu). A-gei is an abbreviation of this Japanese term. The inventor of Tamsui Agei, tofu stuffed with cellophane noodles and minced pork sealed with fish paste, was Mrs 楊鄭錦文Yang-Cheng Jin-wen, who used to own a tiny shop near the School District, later relocated to No 6-1, 真理街ZenLi Street.

Agei

Agei-making is actually fairly exquisite even though the ingredients are relatively inexpensive because each one must be flavored and cooked exactly right, or you'd end up a mushy mess. It is best consumed with special hot-sweet sauce, even better when accompanied with a bowl of fishball soup.

(2) 阿婆鐵蛋Ah-po iron eggs: 阿婆 or grandma, was Mrs 黃張哖Huang-Chang Nian, nick-named Gandma Ah-nian阿哖婆, who created the first iron eggs. What happened was that Mrs Huang had owned a noodle shop near the Tamsui-Bali commuter-sampan dock. Often her conventionally-made 5-spiced soy sauce eggs 滷蛋 remained unsold that must be re-cooked for the next day. After a number of repeats, the eggs, dessicated by the strong sea breeze, would shrink in size, become dark brown to black in color, and yet retain so much flavor that proved irresistible to town folks. Initially, they were call 石頭蛋stone eggs until 1983, when a reporter from Taipei, much impressed by the taste, re-labeled them 鐵蛋iron eggs in his write-ups. They are now available in shrink-wraps everywhere in Tamsui.

Iron eggs

These snack food actually evolved from leftovers. Tamsui ingenuity, no less.

[Source: 淡水鎮志 Sec 9, Ch 3, pp 215 and 217, ed 林玫君教授]