家庭、營養與食物：民國時期婦女與食物衛生之論述

Family, Nutrition, and Food: A Discourse on Women and Food Hygiene during the Republican Era

史學界對婦女及新式家政、家庭之關係，已有初步梳理。本文希望進一步探討民國時期婦女在烹調與日常食物知識上的各類新知。全文分析主軸是以中西醫匯通下所呈現與食物相關的「衛生觀」為中心，它大致體現在三個方向：第一、婦女與烹調、環境（如廚房）衛生之關係；其次是新的營養學，成了婦女必須瞭解的日常生活知識；最後，「食物之衛生」不只有西方營養學的內容而已，婦女還在中西醫知識交匯的背景下，去吸收簡易的中西食療技術和食物禁忌的相關知識。探索這些新式食物衛生知識，除了可以瞭解當時婦女對自身健康關懷重點，也可幫助吾人理解新式婦女在當時家庭中的生活體驗與責任。從表面上來看，在知識通俗化、擴大化之後，婦女在承擔家庭的責任上，角色似乎更加吃重，但其實她們也吸收了不少對調養疾病與有益健康的各類食物知識，這使得近代婦女可以更大程度地瞭解、關心乃至治療自身的疾病，並擁有關心家人身體健康的知識與能力，此又為新式食物知識帶給當時婦女的正面助益。

Historians have carried out preliminary investigations of the relationship among women, the new domestic economy, and the family. This study further analyzes new knowledge about cooking and the daily food use of women during the period of the Republic of China, focusing on the “hygiene perspective” concerning food based on the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine. The analysis follows three basic directions: first, the relationship among women, cooking, and environmental (e.g., kitchen) hygiene; second, new nutrition as daily life knowledge required to be understood by women; and third, knowledge concerning simple Chinese and western dietary therapies and food taboos, since “food hygiene” was not restricted to the content of western nutrition and women also operated in the context of the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine. Analysis of new food hygiene knowledge highlights women’s focus on self-health at the time, as well as the life experiences and responsibilities of new women in families. After the popularization and expansion of such knowledge, women seemed to bear heavier responsibilities and play bigger roles in the family. However, they actually also absorbed a lot of knowledge beneficial to their own health, which enabled modern women to understand, care about, and treat their own illnesses to a greater extent, as well as to possess the knowledge and ability to care about the physical health of family members, a positive benefit created by new food knowledge for women.