衍生物、舊東西與變種：台灣間熱式電鍋炊煮系統，1950s～1970s

Derivations, Mutations and Conventional Appliances : The Indirect Heating Rice Cooker in Taiwan, 1950s~1970s

本文以戰後台灣家庭廚房電氣化試金石—間熱式電鍋為例，探討家庭物質生活變遷、家務科技發展與消費社會的關係。首先本文探究產業與加工技術的演變。1950年代電工業從以「重電、國防與電力」相關製造為主，到擴及家電，經歷一明顯的轉變。從這個脈絡，本文進一步分析國家與電工業者，如何建構間熱式電鍋消費的社會。繼之，本文進入電鍋的「製造與生產」階段，從科技形塑與科技傳播的觀點，指出台灣電鍋的在地化，是製程技術、米食文化、電力供給、各種炊煮系統與使用者的互動的結果。奠定在電鍋設計分析的基礎上，本文指出工程師預設了城市居民為初期使用者，其所締造的電鍋炊煮文化，與電鍋多功能蒸煮設計相互構成。台灣因此朝向「蒸、煮」並行，發展成與日本「煮飯」中心殊異的電鍋炊煮系統。

The indirect heating rice cooker is an important hallmark in the electrification of the household in postwar Taiwan. Using it as an example, this paper examines not only the material changes it brought about in domestic life, but also the interconnected relationship between the formation of a consumer society and household technological development. The paper first explores the development of the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry and demonstrates the remarkable transformation it has undergone. This is the context from which the paper argues that the KMT government, as well the manufacturers , contributed to the construction of a consumer society based around the indirect heating rice cooker. Secondly, this paper demonstrates that, by means of the social shaping of technology and technological diffusion, Taiwanese rice cookers were localized. By looking at the design choices behind the Taiwanese indirect heating rice cooker in the 1960s, we see that the adaption of Japanese rice cookers for the Taiwanese consumer was a social process, conditioned by manufacturing technology, rice and food culture, government policies in regards to power supply, competing cooking systems and consumer choice. The paper ends by exploring how engineers considered the size and design they felt would be most inviting to urban families unaccustomed to indirect heating rice cookers. Manufacturers hoped consumers would view rice cookers not only as a pot for cooking rice, but also as a versatile multi-cooker. After urban families embraced this idea, manufactures further integrated the idea of a multi-cooker into their subsequent designs. It demonstrates rice cookers and society and mutually constitutive.