大家都知道，粽子是端午節必吃的食物之一，在米飯內包入花生、香菇、蝦米、蛋黃的肉粽，更是經典美味，隨著時間演變，粽子也有著眾多的口味，如廣東的鹹肉粽、浙江的嘉興鮮肉粽、台灣的客家粄粽，就算不是端午節，就算平常，我也非常愛吃肉粽，但是，物價一直在飆漲，最普通餡料的肉粽價錢已經從我印象中的三十多元漲到八十多元，所以，除了端午節時，平常我都不會主動吃肉粽。
但是，在之前過年期間，和朋友到台北老街出遊時，發現朋友推薦的美食老店，本來打算去吃的老店，因為過年期間，暫停營業，一下子打亂了我們的計畫，只好，沿路找有無店家，還有開門做生意，走了四、五分鐘，居然都沒找到有空位小吃店，於是，朋友提議去附近的廟口看看，他知道那邊有不少知名小吃攤，不過，等到我們到現場後，發現有十來家小吃攤，但是只有一家小吃攤營業，真是傻眼，且排隊用餐，看起來還要等一段時間，至少是三十分鐘以上。
於是，我和朋友只好繼續往前走，又走了好一段路，有家賣涼麵的店，有營業，但是，我和朋友想吃點熱呼呼的食物，突然看到街邊，有家賣肉粽的，而且，還有空位，我們就決定坐下來吃個肉粽，肉粽七十元，好像有點貴，但是還可以接受，而肉粽有栗子、鹹蛋黃、五花肉、及香菇，口感上是中規中矩，可以接受，這是沒有太多選擇下的選擇，所以還不錯。
我早就知道，過年時，很多景點應該是人滿為患，沒想到，過年期間，想隨隨便便吃個飯，都那麼難，後來和朋友在閒聊時，我們都覺得肉粽好像有一些貴，但是，我們之前，沿路上順便找了一些美食老店，都沒營業，或沒座位，假如，之前有任何一家朋友美食名單上的店有營業的話，我們應該就不會吃肉粽了，不過，人生就是充滿著意外。
Everyone knows that rice dumpling is a must-eat food during the Dragon Boat Festival. The classic rice dumpling, stuffed with peanuts, mushrooms, dried shrimp, and salted egg yolk, is absolutely delicious. Over time, rice dumpling has developed into many different flavors, like the savory Cantonese-style rice dumpling, Zhejiang's Jiaxing fresh rice dumpling, and Taiwan's Hakka-style ban zong. Even outside of the festival, I really love eating rice dumpling. But with prices constantly rising, even the most basic rice dumpling has gone up from what I remember—around 30 NT to over 80 NT now. So, unless it’s the Dragon Boat Festival, I don’t usually go out of my way to eat rice dumpling.
However, during the Lunar New Year, I went on a trip with my friends to an old street in Taipei. We originally planned to eat at a famous restaurant that one of my friends recommended, but when we got there, we found out it was closed for the holiday. That completely threw off our plans, so we had no choice but to look for other places that were still open. We walked around for four or five minutes but couldn’t find a single small restaurant with an available seat. Then, my friend suggested checking out a temple nearby, saying there were usually a lot of famous food stalls there.
When we arrived, we saw about ten food stalls, but only one was open! We were honestly shocked. On top of that, there was already a long line, and it looked like we’d have to wait at least 30 minutes.
So, we kept walking. After some time, we came across a shop selling cold noodles, but my friend and I were craving something warm. Just then, we spotted a small stand selling rice dumpling, and—most importantly—it had available seats! We decided to go for it. The rice dumpling was 70 NT, which felt a bit pricey, but still reasonable. It had chestnuts, salted egg yolk, pork belly, and mushrooms. The taste was pretty standard—not amazing, but definitely decent. Given that we didn’t have many options, it was a good enough choice.
I already knew that during the Lunar New Year, popular tourist spots would be packed. But I really didn’t expect that even finding a simple meal would be this difficult. Later, while chatting with my friend, we both agreed that the rice dumpling was kind of expensive. But considering that all the restaurants on our foodie list were either closed or fully booked, we probably wouldn’t have eaten rice dumpling at all if any of them had been open. Life is just full of unexpected turns, isn’t it?
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