“I’ve been working here at this local food stall for over 30 years. Every year, for two months before the Dragon Boat Festival, I am here busy making the festive rice dumplings all day. A lot of care goes into these dumplings - I prepare glutinous rice, pork, salted egg yolks for the savoury ones; red bean, peanuts and sugar in the sweet ones. It takes a long time to make them - the whole process from preparation to wrapping to steaming takes a whole 10 hours! In keeping with tradition, we wrap them with bamboo leaves; the fragrance is so unique and comforting. During the busy season, I make and sell over 200 dumplings a day. This whole festival is based on the Chinese legend of a loyal poet and court minister, who eventually lost the emperor’s trust. In despair, he drowned himself in a river and the villagers tried to paddle out on boats to rescue him - hence dragon boating. They weren’t able to find him and so dropped sticky rice dumplings into the river so that the fish would eat the dumplings instead of their beloved poet! And so, to this day, we still commemorate the festival with these delicious sticky dumplings.”

「我喺呢間小食店做咗超過30年喇。每逢端午節嘅前兩個月，我就要忙住喺度包糭。做起上嚟好多功夫㗎，包鹹糉就要準備糯米、肥豬肉同鹹蛋黃，包甜糭就要有紅豆、花生同埋糖。成個流程都好花時間，由準備材料，包好啲饀，到攞去蒸，係要成10個鐘㗎！我哋係用傳統做法，用竹葉去包嘅，陣味好獨特好清香。忙起上嚟，我一日要包超過200隻糭攞出去賣。呢個節日係中國傳統習俗，話說古時有個愛國詩人屈原，因為不受重用，心灰意冷就投江自盡，附近嘅村民就扒艇出去想救翻佢，所以就有扒龍舟呢個習俗。佢哋搵唔翻屈原，所以就用糭葉包住啲糯米扔落條河度，俾啲魚食，希望啲魚唔會食咗佢哋敬愛嘅詩人！所以到咗今日，我哋都仲會喺端午節食到呢啲咁好味嘅糭啦。」

“We have a lot of regular customers who come to have their meals at our food stall. Apart from the festive rice dumplings, we also do a variety of rice and noodle dishes. When I’m not helping out with food preparation, I’m also serving and chatting with customers. Some families have been coming here for four generations and have become good friends of mine. Yuen Long is such a charming neighbourhood. It has a great community feel; people are friendly and there are a lot of independent shops keeping up local traditions and crafts. This area is also famous for ‘wife cakes’ - the delicious pastry filled with sweet winter melon paste. I love that I can still find flavours from my childhood here. Sometimes I reminisce about my childhood days, as things seemed a lot simpler back then. As kids, we would all play together and share meals with our neighbours. People didn’t even lock their front doors; it felt a lot more comfortable and safe. Things have changed quite a bit since then, but I’m happy to see that the younger generation is still interested in Hong Kong traditional culture. Most of the customers who come all the way here for my dumplings are actually youngsters!”

“My work is physically demanding and it’s particularly challenging in the summer - we have no air conditioning. Even though it’s hard work, I still enjoy it and want to keep going as I’m used to staying active and using my hands. During the busiest weeks, my kids will come all the way to Yuen Long to help me out with the dumpling making. They all have their own careers though, so I don’t think anyone will be taking over the stall in the future. I also don’t want them to be doing this kind of work - I’d prefer them to be more comfortable and to pursue their own interests. I take one day off every couple of weeks. Whenever I get the chance, I love to be out in nature. My kids took me on a camping trip once, and I absolutely loved it. I am surrounded by four walls all day, it is such a refreshing change to be near the mountains and by the sea. We just relax, eat and play all day; at peace and out in beautiful nature - what more do you need in life?

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 「我哋有好多熟客㗎。除咗賣糭之外，我哋仲會做啲炒粉麵飯。唔係準備緊材料嗰陣，我都會出去招呼客人，同佢哋傾吓計。有啲食客成家四代人都嚟幫襯我哋，同我哋好好朋友。元朗呢個區幾好住㗎。仲有嗰種鄰里關係，大家都幾好感情，同埋呢度仲搵到有賣傳統嘢同埋工藝品嘅舖頭。元朗仲有出名賣老婆餅添，佢係一隻中式餅，入面有啲冬瓜蓉咁。仲可以喺度搵返童年食嘅口味，真係好。有時我都會懷念下細個嘅日子㗎，嗰陣時生活簡單好多，我哋啲細蚊仔會一齊玩，隔離鄰居開飯會分啲餸俾大家食。嗰時啲屋企唔會閂門㗎，其實感覺舒服安全好多。而家就唔同咗好多喇，不過我都好開心見到啲後生仔仲會對香港嘅傳統文化有興趣。好多專程入嚟買糭嘅客人都係後生仔嚟㗎 ！」

 「我哋啲工作係好辛苦㗎，尤其是係夏天，我哋冇冷氣㗎。雖然係辛苦工，但係我都享受嘅，想繼續做，因為我慣咗做嘢同埋用對手。最忙嗰幾個禮拜，我啲仔女會入嚟元朗幫我一齊包糭。佢哋個個都有自己嘅事業啦，所以我覺得冇邊個會接受呢間舖頭喇。我都唔想佢哋做呢種工作啦，我寧願佢哋做佢哋鍾意做嘅嘢。我每隔幾個禮拜就會放一日假。每當我有機會，我都鍾意去郊外行吓。我啲仔女帶我去過一次露營，我好鍾意呀。我日日都對住四道牆，有得出去俾啲山山水水包圍住，幾好呀。我哋全日就係唞吓，食下嘢同埋玩，好平靜，個大自然又靚，仲有咩覺得唔好呢？」