台灣稻米品質與品味的轉變

Concern about the meaning of rice in Taiwan has being increasing in the recent decade. Meanwhile rice has become a product that satisfies more then the subsistence demand. The question of the formation of the demand involves the food choice of people. That is to say, by which criterion people decide to consume what food? This research analyses the construction process of the qualities of rice in order to understand the coding and struggle action in it. Through the concept of “qualification”, the interaction between consumers and products could be understood. Therefore, we could examine the active and passive of consumer and the formation of taste. Accordingly, we adopt the cultural economy approach to examine the consumption transformation of rice in Taiwan, especially the experiences and recognition of rice in the sphere of exchange, in which the stable appreciation system was shaped. This research suggests that the quality of rice had changed in the history. The state and scientists dominate the qualification of rice for a long time until recent decade the influence by-pass the state emerged. The change including the qualification state has moved from the sphere of production to marketing and the more influential of aestheticization and ethnicisation. There were different actors in different periods who dominated the legitimacy of constructing “good” food, which people take it as granted and keep consuming. Further, the tastes were shaped in the internalization process in which the consumer, provider, the state and scientists were in struggle. Our exploration suggests the material and symbolic change of rice in Taiwan and the knowledge construction around “good rice” do reveal the power to influence the production and consumption of food system.