台灣原味: Stock Up on Taiwanese Heritage Foods
...with 15% off online, in store, and at Passport to Taiwan NYC
This is Yun Hai Taiwan Stories, a newsletter about Taiwanese food and culture by Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉, founder of Yun Hai. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, sign up here.
A year ago, I was out of my gourd getting ready for the store opening and unable to write anything much. This year seems to be following a similar pattern. May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we’ve been hosting events (a seedling sale with Choy Division), collaborating with other brands (upcoming street food collab at Dumpling Club SF), and participating in Taiwanese-American festivals on both coasts.
We’re also moving our warehouse, a massive back-of-house upgrade that we’re all looking forward to completing. We received a big shipment in from Taiwan, too. Most of our items are now back in stock (yes, Tatung Electric Steamers, yes, Grass Jelly Herb, yes Plum Powder). Shout out to our ops team (hi Lillian, hi Luke) for all the hard work.
Finally, we are preparing for two (!) new launches next month. I’ll give you a hint: one is about as traditional of an ingredient as there can be on this earth and the other hangs on the wall. Stay tuned.
While you wait, please enjoy a last minute AAPIHM/Memorial Day Sale and take 15% off sitewide with code AAPI15. The code expires end of day Monday, May 29th.
The discount is also valid in our brick and mortar shop and at the Passport to Taiwan Festival in NYC on Sunday.
Note that Tatung Electric Steamers and accessories are excluded from the sale. And, please expect some additional processing time—we’re working with a brand new warehouse and will be putting our system through the paces.
Passport to Taiwan NYC: This Sunday, May 28th
In 2019, at the suggestion of food writer Cathy Erway, I participated in Passport to Taiwan, a major Taiwanese cultural festival that takes place annually in Union Square. I had launched the Yun Hai brand just months before, importing 80 bottles of Su Chili Crisp on gut instinct. This was the official public launch of Yun Hai and a formative introduction to the Taiwanese-American community in NYC.
When I initially marketed the brand, I worked hard (and still do) to carve out space for artisanal Taiwanese products through introductory storytelling. The dialogue at Passport was completely different. Less “what's Taiwanese soy sauce” and more “is this really entirely produced in Taiwan, please prove it by answering this difficult question in Mandarin.”
I guess Yun Hai passed the test. So many wonderful things have happened since then, not least of which was starting this newsletter. The festival has been on a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic, but it’s back for the first time since 2019. We’re extra excited to participate—it’s our fourth birthday, after all. If you’re in the New York City area, please come say hi to us. P.S. it’s tomorrow.
Passport to Taiwan
Sunday, May 28th, 12-5pm
Union Square North
New York City
Catch ya right across from the o ah jian 蚵仔煎,
Lisa Cheng Smith
鄭衍莉
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with friends and subscribe if you haven’t already. I email once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. For more Taiwanese food, head to yunhai.shop, follow us on instagram and twitter, or view the newsletter archives.