原住民食物的滋味政治：商品化下的紅藜味道（再）發現

Taste Politics of Indigenous Food: Commodifying and Rediscovering the Taste of Red Quinoa in Recent Years

「天然美味」、「純淨生產」、「超級食物」，過去十年來逐漸浮現於生機飲食門市的紅藜集結了這些想像，成為麵包店架上或連鎖餐廳菜單中美麗原真色彩的來源。對照更早興起於國際飲食市場的南美洲藜麥，臺灣（紅）藜（Chenopodium Formosanum）晚近才華麗轉身從配角變主角，百年前原住民常用之於輔助發酵釀酒，今日它成為營養學研究凸顯為神奇的超級（準）穀物，富含膳食纖維和鐵、鈣質等等， 儼然催生了一門紅藜好生意。聚焦食物的滋味政治和實踐，這篇論文檢視臺灣紅藜重新被發現、商品化的過程如何於原住民鄉展開，指出紅藜物性挑戰了構成原鄉美味之原味、真實性論述，紅藜逐漸變成主角卻處境尷尬，去殼不去殼之間不易協調，保留「原味」卻未必有利於市場行銷，由科學和市場口味來定義的「原味」之間有了矛盾，在在具現於紅藜「成為食物」之不易。結論指出作物之特定物性是理解食物滋味政治不可忽視，物性是否能支持「原味」和「真實性」論述之功將影響到作物商品化、進入食品治理及食物實作體系相關過程中，原住民能否克服邊緣處境而積極參與食物滋味政治。

“Natural taste,”“purely clean production,”“superfood,”phrases as such reflect the increasing presence of red quinoa in organic food stores in the past decade. Red quinoa seems to embody these imaginaries all at once, becoming source of beautiful authentic colors at bakeries or the menus of chain restaurant in Taiwan. Compared to the much earlier recognition of quinoa grown in and imported from South America, Taiwanese quinoa (officially named Chenopodium Formosanum) has just transformed from a supporting actor to a leading one. Rather than just a supplant material used for millet wine making, red quinoa has become a magic superfood, which is seen as containing rich fibers, iron and calcium, etc., and therefore has contributed to a growing business. Focusing on the taste of red quinoa as food, this paper examines the process of commodifying and rediscovering of taste of red quinoa in recent years and identifies the actors and their practices. Red quinoa has increasingly become a recognized, leading actor and yet ended up within an ambiguous situation. It has become a challenge in considering whether or not it should be husked as the appreciation of its“authentic/indigenous taste”differs in food science and in marketplace. This research illustrates the process in which commodification of red quinoa unfolds and identifies how its materiality challenges the discourses of authenticity and indigeneity, which makes it difficult for the crop to“become food.”It concluded that materiality matters in understanding the taste politics of food, which contributes to the commodification of and governance over food, and the participation of Indigenous communities in politics of taste.