Food in Motion, Identity in Formation: Trans-national Circulation and Consumption of Food between Taiwan and Japan

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

As Arjun Appadurai demonstrates, (the writing of) cookbooks help to define the boundary of nation in India. Roland Barthes also discussed how food acts as a system of communication in France. It would be fair to argue that what we eat (i.e. food) defines who we are (i.e. identity). However, as we look into the history of food circulation, we will soon realize: consumption of food is hardly limited by national boundary. On the spatial dimension, what we eat is not always native to where we are. Instead, trans-national circulation of food breaks down national boundaries, especially under institutional changes such as political regime, and brings changes in food consumption (and food culture) across space. In addition, on the temporal dimension, what we eat today is not always the same as what our fathers/ grandfathers ate. What we have witnessed is that trans-national circulation of food brings changes in food (consumption and culture) across time and across generations. And more significantly, as food—and particularly the historical and cultural significance of food—defines identity, the adoption of food could also re-define who we are. Drawing on studies of food (as) culture, this panel will examine three cases in which trans-national circulation/consumption of food between Taiwan and Japan—as well as the consumption of the history of such circulation—have brought significant and mutual influence on each society during and/or after the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), and in the process re-defined local/national identity across Taiwan and Japan at different historical junctures.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Shichi Mike Lan, National Chengchi University

Chair

• Shichi Mike Lan, National Chengchi University

Individual Presentations

• Japanese Market and the Banana ‘Boom’ in Colonial Taiwan - Wen-chiao Yang, National Chengchi University

• Taiwan Ba-na-na in Mojiko: Consuming Colonial History in Contemporary Japan - Hsiangjung Chin, FU Jen Catholic University

• A ‘Taste’ of Japan in Taiwan: History of Consuming Miso in Taiwan - Shichi Mike Lan, National Chengchi University