Lisa Cheng Smith and Lillian Lin
FOR CHAMPIONING TAIWAN, ONE PANTRY ITEM AT A TIME Founders, Yun Hai
WHEN TAI
wanese president Tsai Ingwen visited New York in March—a trip so diplomatically sensitive that it was billed as a “stopover”—her itinerary included a jaunt to the Yun Hai Taiwanese General Store, in Brooklyn.
Filled with everything from soy sauce made by a third-generation brewer to chef’s knives to dried Taiwanesegrown pineapples (a fruit that China suddenly made illegal to import from Taiwan two years ago), the store embodies the autonomous island’s identity and represents the physical center of Taiwanese Americans Lisa Cheng Smith and Lillian Lin’s young brand. The duo also oversee a digital marketplace and a wholesale importing business that boasts such clients as Jeangeorges Vongerichten’s Tin Building market in New York and Zingerman’s in Michigan. In addition, Cheng Smith and Lin produced Time, Terroir, Taiwan, a documentary short about soy sauce.
While China extends its trade war, Yun Hai helps independent Taiwanese producers expand their export options and keeps expats and foodies up-todate with the island’s evolving culture. Polls indicate that the number of Taiwanese citizens who identify solely as Taiwanese (as opposed to both Taiwanese and Chinese) has steadily increased over the past decade. “A beautiful bottle of soy sauce from Taiwan can subvert the idea that Taiwan is just a pawn on the world stage,” Cheng Smith says. “It creates an understanding that Taiwan has its own culture and agricultural output. That can be very powerful, beyond just political rhetoric.”