Taho

The photos above are reminiscent of my childhood. Every morning or afternoon you would either hear the Taho man's clown hooter sound off or him simply calling out "Taaahhhhhooooo". My nanny would make sure she would catch him in time to buy me my favorite "street food", Taho. Most Taho vendors walk with two buckets balanced by a wooden plank on their shoulders, some (like my Taho vendor) rides a bike, which makes it quite tricky to catch him! I used to love watching the Taho man prepare taho with his two aluminum buckets with its compartmentalised ingredients. One bucket just for the Tokwa or Tufo (Bean Curd), another bucket divided into two sections for the Sago or Tapioca Pearls and the last compartment is for brown sugar syrup known as Arnibal. It is usually served to you quite warm, but some people do like eating Taho cold. The Taho could have possibly come from Chinese influences, as they have something identical, if not similar, called Douhua.

Ever since I arrived here, I have been craving for Taho and have been quite vocal about it too! Yesterday morning, when I woke up I heard his clown horn go off and my mom rushing to tell me that he was outside our house and asked me if I wanted some Taho. My immediate reaction reminded me times of my childhood, grabbing 20 pesos (£0.20) and a glass, (plus, this time, my camera) and rushing out the house giving it to the Taho man. I think he must have thought I was crazy for photographing him but it was hard not to. It tasted as good as I remembered it to be, and it will always remind me of happy memories of my childhood.