Bodily Memory and Sensibility: Culinary Preferences and National Consciousness in the Case of 'Taiwanese Cuisine'

本文以身體記憶（bodily memory）概念分析消費者對「臺灣菜」的不同定義、認知與喜好，並檢視這些不同的認知方式及喜好與個人的國家意識具有何種關連。筆者認為，對特定飲食的喜好可概念化為一種身體記憶，身體記憶的形成與個體的社會位置、社會經驗與身體感受密切相關。而此社會位置、經驗與感受，其實也構成了「國家意識」形成的基礎。因此，對於飲食喜好與國家意識二者的關連，不宜以線性因果關係去理解，而要從形塑二者的共同基礎進行探究。此影響特定國族飲食喜好與國家意識的共同基礎，則與人們理解社會的感知方式（sensibility）相涉。不同的感知方式促使人們對國家與國家文化產生不同的理解，對「臺灣菜」的定義與認知也因此不同，可能來自性別、族群、國家等不同的視角。「國族料理」（national cuisine）是否為具意義的項目，因個體的感知方式而異。個體對國族料理的強烈喜好也不能單純解釋為國族認同的展現。食物雖經常被指認為一種標誌、維持族群疆界的重要文化要素，但此標誌與畫界的功能仍有其限度。

This paper employs “bodily memory” to theorize the concept culinary preference and examines how consumers conceive of the notion of a “Taiwanese cuisine” and the relationship between national consciousness and culinary preference. I will consider how a sense of nationality might link individuals to a particular set of dishes. The cases discussed reveal that “Taiwanese cuisine” is not meaningful to all consumers, and a preference for that cuisine cannot be interpreted as purely an expression of Taiwanese identity. Instead, such a preference is rooted in the lived experience and bodily memories of consumers. This study shows that informants understand “Taiwanese cuisine” from diverse perspectives, in particular gender, locality, and ethnicity. Social positions, the social experiences of consumers, and their need for inclusion and exclusion are all influential in shaping these diverse perspectives. On the basis of their lived experiences and memories (of specific flavors and dining contexts, for instance), individuals develop their own sensibilities, which serve as the ground where culinary preference and national consciousness appear to be correlated. Thus, while food is often viewed as a boundary marker in anthropological research, this research identifies restrictions on the boundary-marker roles that food can play.