the tau yew man
another feature of my kampong life that has stayed in my memory is the tau yew man. he would announce his presence with his trademark call of "yew, yew". the original tau yew man must have been in his fifties when he started making his rounds in my kampong. i had seen him in the neighbouring village and also in tasek utara where i went to visit my school mate.
he was always dressed in the same navy blue shirt and dark trousers. his shirt had three or four pockets. like the lady who sold breakfast, he carried his ware in a basket but he did not sling it over his shoulders; he carried it at the elbow of his hand. he was always smiling, always in a good mood.
if i can remember correctly, he made his rounds once a fortnight. he would first take the orders, collect the empty or near empty bottles and then go to his tricycle where his containers were to top up the bottles. he would use a funnel to transfer the soy sauce from the big containers to the customers' bottles.
the tau yew man served us, his customers, well. he not only provided cheerful home delivery service, he also rewarded us for supporting him. every year, towards the lunar new year, he would present his regular customers with complimentary bottles of soy sauce.
i do not know whether his soy sauces were home-made or if he got them from a supplier. in the later years his son, i presume, took over the business of delivering soy sauces to the kampong folks. his son upgraded the tricycle to a small van. unfortunately, he did not inherit his father's friendly and cheerful demeanour.
"soy sauce is a staple condiment and ingredient in most homes. soy sauce is a salty, brown liquid made from fermented soy beans mixed with some type of roasted grain (wheat, barley, or rice are common), injected with a special yeast mold, and liberally flavoured with salt. after being left to age for several months, the mixture is strained and bottled. the sauce's consistency can range from very thin to very thick."
6 comments:
Ah yes, your article brings back some memories of our own Tau Yew man. Ours is called See Yau lou.
I was very small then.
Yes making tau yew from soya was a cottage industry then. You could come across huge clay jars, with covering lids, half the size of an adult, lying in open court yards with fermenting soya which eventually made into tau yew and other related products. The method of production is similar to the soya bean sauce brought back from Ipoh by Chun See.
Zen. I think you meant soya bean paste or tau cheong and not soya bean sauce.
I remember a tau you man making his rounds at my block in Bedok when I was a kid. He would carry the big bottles of soya sauces in 2 rattan baskets and use his ubiquitous big funnel to transfer the sauces.
Can choose from light and dark soya sauce.
On a similar note, I also remember the bread lady (who will sell my favourite tau sar bao), and the tilam bor (bedsheet) man making their rounds too!
it would appear that the tau yew man was a feature in most kampongs and estates during the 60s.
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