Food, friendship, and colonialism in Yang Shuang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue

💡 A translation within a translation: This year’s International Booker Prize winner stands out not only for taking home the award but also for capturing one of the prize’s most fascinating undercurrents: the layered complexity of translation. Written in Mandarin by Yang Shuang-zi in 2020 and translated into English by Lin King, Taiwan Travelogue is itself a translation within the novel’s world — a metafictional work supposedly written in Japanese and translated into Chinese. If this sounds a little knotty, it’s meant to be.

The premise: Taiwan Travelogue follows Aoyama Chizuko, a fictional Japanese author in the 1930s, who is invited on a state-sponsored tour of Japanese-occupied Taiwan. Uninterested in the trip’s imperialist agenda, Chizuko decides to stay for a whole year, determined to experience the “real” island life of Taiwan and savor its authentic cuisine. Chizuru, a younger Taiwanese woman, is hired as her interpreter for the duration of her stay. Knowledgeable and an excellent cook, Chizuru plans Chizuko’s food-centric journey across the island as an unexpected bond develops between them.

What we liked: More character- and dialogue-driven than plot-driven, the novel reads like a passionate Taiwanese cookbook, brimming with vivid food descriptions fueled by the protagonist’s insatiable appetite. Her unconventional travels offer a culturally nuanced, rich portrait of Taiwan and its colonial legacy. Beyond its travelogue framework, the novel is most fascinating when tracing the slow unfolding of the two women’s relationship. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, they find common ground in their shared curiosity about culture, even as an elusive power dynamic quietly shapes their interactions.

Meta-fiction at its finest: The novel’s layered web of translations is more than a clever narrative device — it’s a powerful illustration of colonialism’s quiet distortions. Presented as a rediscovered manuscript, the text subtly draws attention to what slips through the cracks of translation. As the novel unfolds, the fictional translator’s footnotes emerge as a parallel narrative, revealing how language, culture, and meaning are altered when filtered through colonial, non-indigenous perspectives.

Our verdict: In just over 200 pages, Taiwan Travelogue felt like a breezy read. While the translation's simple language and the charming relationship between Chizuko and Chizuru proved enjoyable, its more complex themes meant the novel is not exactly a light read. Beneath its deceptively simple storyline are layers of insight into translation, colonialism, feminism, and identity, making for a deeply rewarding experience. If you’re after something truly out-of-the-box and thought-provoking, Taiwan Travelogue is well worth picking up.

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the eBook and audiobook versions on Kobo.