Photo of woman eating pork bun during Typoon Megi goes viral

Typhoon Megi’s devastation is no laughing matter, leaving four dead and 268 others injured during its onslaught over Taiwan this week.

The Wall Street Journal published an article about the most recent typhoon to hit Asia, with an interesting choice for a featured photo.

Taiwanese netizens were quickly taken aback by the photo of a woman who was seen standing in the storm while holding a broken umbrella in one hand, and a half-eaten pork bun in the other.

The glorified image, which has been circulating on social media since Wednesday, was snapped by an Associated Press photographer and captioned: “A woman eats and struggles with her umbrella against powerful gusts of wind generated by typhoon Megi across the the island in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016.”

Netizens were quick to point out the woman’s “priorities” and were amazed by her ability to hold on to the precious concoction of bread and meat, despite the horrendous weather.

Some viewers suddenly had the urge to have a pork bun and were curious where to buy it.

A local Taiwanese media outlet, meanwhile, interviewed someone claiming to be a relative of the woman in the now iconic photo, who said the woman’s husband bought her the pork bun from the convenience store FamilyMart.

Update: The elderly lady has since been identified as a 53-year-old, with the surname Dai, who owns a fruit stand at a market in Taipei.

According to Apple Daily, Dai was shocked about her sudden online fame and even felt “unlucky” as she did not want the photo to be her claim to prominence.

She also said the media should at least mention her fruit stand in their stories, so she could get better business out of the publicity.  Khristian Ibarrola

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TAGS: Associated Press, Taiwan, viral photo