During the Lunar New Year, I went to Ngee Ann City to experience the festive atmosphere. The New Year's goods market was a sea of red, bustling with people pushing and shoving. Pineapple tarts, egg rolls, water chestnut cakes, almond cookies—a feast for the eyes. Traditional, old-fashioned, Western, and Southeast Asian pastries and jellies competed with each other on different counters, vying for attention. I wanted to pick out a couple of unique treats for the holidays, and as I walked, I unexpectedly stumbled upon ginger-vinegared pork trotters, a long-lost friend.

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       People who live in the city drink vinegar too, but mostly fruit vinegar, or a light sprinkle on a salad. The rich, dark ginger-vinegared pork trotters seemed like a thing of the past. When I was a child, relatives would occasionally send vinegar to my mother.  The vinegar was usually a gift to celebrate a newborn, sharing the joy of a new life. A jar of vinegar would typically last a month or two. I hated the sour taste, so I would avoid it, staying far away at the other end of the dining table. Occasionally, I would gather the courage to sit at the end and eat the eggs from the vinegar. I avoided the fatty pork trotters and never touched the dark vinegar, which made my mouth water just thinking about it. Perhaps our generation was instilled with a kind of  “overcorrection” and  “assumption” about health—no fatty meat to avoid accumulating fat. We disregarded the health advice of our ancestors.

        My elderly mother stopped cooking a long time ago, and for decades, there have been no relatives sending vinegar. Whether a little prince or princess arrived, gifts have changed from red turtle cakes to Western cakes, then simplified to a gift certificate, allowing the recipient to choose freely from a designated bakery. Since the chance presented itself, I decided to buy a pot of sweet vinegar for my mother as a surprise.

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        At the dinner table, my mother sipped the vinegar and talked about traditional Cantonese culture, where ginger-vinegared pork trotters and eggs are given to relatives and friends during the first twelve days after a baby's birth, signifying a new beginning. Furthermore, vinegar can also be given as a gift during festivals and holidays. This nicely explained why vinegar jars appeared in the New Year's goods market.

         Why do women who are confinement need to eat vinegar?

       My mother couldn't explain it precisely using medical terms, but she believed the folk saying that  “postpartum nourishment can help women regain their weak constitutions from their youth and revitalize their lives.”

      What are the benefits of ginger-vinegared pork trotters? I searched Baidu with this question, and the database yielded a plethora of articles.

      Ginger-vinegared pork trotters can warm the meridians and replenish blood, dispel wind and cold, promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and aid in metabolism.

       Pork (compared to beef, mutton, and chicken) trotters are rich in calcium and collagen, which have a nourishing effect and increase milk production.

         Old ginger helps dispel stasis and expel wind, and its vitamin C can boost immunity.

      Eggs are rich in protein, minerals, and vitamins, which are beneficial for cell growth.

      Sweet vinegar is the most important ingredient in ginger-vinegared pork trotters. Sweet vinegar is made by adding precious spices to rice vinegar, which invigorates the circulation and dissolves all the ingredients, breaking down the calcium, collagen, and fat in the pork trotters, aiding digestion, making the meat more tender, enhancing calcium absorption, and assisting blood circulation.

      Vinegar culture has evolved with the times. Today, high-quality sweet vinegar is not simply judged by its sweet and sour taste, but by the unique flavor produced through natural fermentation. Inferior vinegars or chemically synthesized vinegar have a pungent smell and a harsh taste. High-quality sweet vinegar, infused with spices, has a rich and mellow aroma, emanating layers of cinnamon, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, citrus peel, licorice, and other herbal fragrances.

      The prevalence of the internet has effectively helped ginger-vinegared pork trotters to regain their position in a society that’s almost entirely Westernized, a turning point. Postpartum nourishment has become an opportunity for traditional food to reintegrate into modern life. The continuation of life itself is a miracle. The sweet and sour taste of ginger-vinegared pork trotters reflects the ups and downs of life, and how a path is created even without words. It speaks of patience leading to success, wisdom in simplicity, inclusivity, seizing opportunities, lucky breaks and karma, a cycle of cause and effect……

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        I suddenly recalled a young couple I had passed by at a New Year's goodie stall. Among all the festive treats, the guy pointed to a jar of vinegar, standing out from the rest, and said to the girl, “Look! There’s vinegar!” The girl rolled her eyes and retorted playfully,  “If you want to eat it, eat it yourself!”

      Walls have ears, and what about walls that don't exist? I thought to myself: Is this the guy hinting to the girl that he wants a baby? Or, in a society obsessed with practicality and taking what’s available, is he directly addressing his physiological need for calcium and moisture-removal?