The name Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam echoes how Taiwanese pronounces tofu, "tāu-hū," paired with Tsheh Tiam, meaning "bookstore"—together, "tofu bookstore." Originally housed in a traditional wooden building behind Chiayi Station, one side of the space was a tofu workshop; the other, shelves of books on agriculture, labor, gender, the environment, and civic issues. For Wu Min-hua, tofu was never just an everyday ingredient—it was a lens through which to examine Taiwan's agricultural structure. She notes that soybeans typically require processing before reaching consumers, meaning that increasing the domestic cultivation rate demands a corresponding infrastructure for production and consumption. A small tofu shop, she reasoned, could serve as exactly that kind of anchor: a living, local loop from field to table.

Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam sources its soybeans from farms practicing eco-friendly agriculture in Taiwan and follows traditional methods to produce tofu, soy milk, and dou hua (tofu pudding). Wu Min-hua has developed a range of signature products—bittern-curdled dou hua, watermelon soy milk, and Red Oolong tea soy milk—alongside inventive snacks such as a mixed black and yellow soybean pudding and a fiber cake made from okara (soy pulp). Each item invites the customer to rediscover the soybean in a new light, turning the act of eating into a way of understanding the land it came from.

Typhoon Damage Forces Relocation, Pauses Tofu Production

The bookstore side of the space carries that same spirit forward. Co-founder Lin Shi-han believes a small, independent bookstore reveals exactly what issues its owners care about most. Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam has long focused on sustainable agriculture, marginalized communities, and civic issues, shaping an open space for exchange through reading, talks, and discussion. Food and reading intertwine here, making Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam more than a place of consumption—it functions as a cultural node that responds to society through everyday action.

In July 2025, Typhoon Danas made landfall in Chiayi, tearing the tin roof off the old wooden building and damaging a large amount of merchandise and equipment. Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam was forced to relocate, and now operates as a "store within a store" inside Tâi-uân Tôo-su-sik (Taiwan Library in Chiayi), maintaining its connection to the community through reading and public discussion. Even with tofu production on hold, the bookstore continues to center its cultural work on the land ethics and food philosophy that tofu represents—making it one of the few cultural spaces in Chiayi that approaches public issues through the lens of food.

☛  Tó-Hoo Tsheh Tiam has been selected as one of the Ministry of Culture's inaugural 100 Culture Bases.