臺灣米，日本味：關於「好」的品質建構

Taiwanese Rice, Japanese Taste: The Construction of “Good” Quality

「什麼是好米？」本文將這個答案作為問題意識進行探索。所謂「好」是如何被界定？評價判準是由誰、又是基於什麼原因被決定？以及，在此評價過程中產生了什麼樣的價值與意義？本文將稻米品質作為分析對象，運用文化經濟學方法中對意義與價值的生產與流通進行探討；其中，也將稻米供應體系中的各部門行動者納入分析範圍，以理解本文所考察的兩個農糧體制階段中不同行動者引入的品質建構框架與策略。透過爬梳政策論述、歷史新聞資料與相關訪談，本文認為臺灣的稻米在不斷被改造的過程中，接受並採用日本的稻米評價系統，這同時也是一套物質條件與機制，形塑出對現代化與日本化給予正面評價的意識型態。因此，也透過此一文化的再現，重新形塑與詮解了臺灣稻米關於「好」的標準與品質定義。

“What is good rice?” In Taiwan it is easy to get a standard answer to this question. In this paper, we problematise the consciousness underlying this situation. This paper questions the definitional processes underlying concepts of goodness and the criteria for judgment, as well as the creation of meanings and values through the judgment process. The concept of cultural economy is methodologically used to analyse the meanings and values produced and distributed through the qualification of rice and the actors in the rice supply system, in order to understand their quality assessment frameworks and strategies under two different food regimes. Policy discourses, historical news articles, and interview materials were collected to explore the process of the social construction of qualities. This paper argues that the quality assessment system for Japonica rice, which originated in Japan, was introduced here in Taiwan and appropriated through a process of reform of Japonica rice. At the same time, this system shaped the ideology of giving positive judgments to modernization and Japanization. The acknowledged qualities of rice in Taiwan have replicated and re-distributed the taste and meanings of rice in Japan. The definitions of goodness have been reproduced by the consumer, playing the part of the re-producer of culture in this process.