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At this shop, where you can always hear the resonant songs of pop star Wu Bai while enjoying steaming-hot stinky tofu, you might suddenly ask, “Boss! Why is your shop called ‘The Riddle Eatery’?” Jiufen’s Shi Mi Dian (Riddle Eatery) is the first stinky-tofu shop in Jiufen. Dozens of Taiwanese proverbs cover the walls, letting guests glimpse the islanders’ wisdom; a pair of wooden couplets—“Devour the world’s delicacies, rest amid Taiwan’s riddles”—sums up the owner’s intent, hence the name “Riddle Eatery.” He papered the shop with proverbs because he’s loved these word-puzzles since childhood, blurting them out at random, buying books and even a proverb dictionary, until he finally turned his store into a “riddle classroom.” Besides proverbs, he’s a gifted storyteller, chatting so passionately about lore that he forgets himself, and he can recite every local Jiufen saying by heart. Modern folk, he says, live inside technology and commerce, cut off from Taiwan’s culture and wisdom—its proverbs—so he wants everyone to learn the adages our ancestors left behind and feel their meaning. Another goal is to let diners guess or debate the sayings, sparking conversation and memories of the proverbs Grandpa and Grandma once rattled off without a thought.