近代臺灣柴魚的生產與消費：以臺東為核心

Japan boasts a long history of production and consumption of skipjack-tuna products, an important source of the umami flavor characteristic of Japanese cuisine. After Taiwan’s incorporation into the Japanese Empire in 1895, the colonial authorities surveyed aquatic resources around Taiwan and introduced modern methods for catching skipjack tuna and producing dried skipjack-tuna flakes (known in Japanese as katsuobushi). The Japanese colonial government incorporated Taiwan into its broader system of aquatic industry modernization by performing three major feats: developing a labor force for the aquatic industry, importing new aquatic technologies, and establishing skipjack-tuna factories. As a result, katsuobushi produced in Taiwan (“Taiwan bushi”) became a symbol of Japan’s imperial technology in Taiwan. At the end of the Second World War, the Japanese were forced out of Taiwan, but skipjack-tuna products’ production technology and dietary culture became common components of Taiwan’s daily diet. The present study explores the production and consumption of skipjack-tuna products in modern Taiwan, focusing on the Taitung area because it was one of the most important locations for skipjack-tuna products from the Japanese colonial period up to the 1980s. This study traces changes in the materiality of fish known as “bonito” under different historical and social conditions in modern Taiwan: from the relatives cheap “preserved fish” in early traditional society to the expensive katsuobushi during the Japanese colonial period to a popular taste in postwar Taiwan’s daily diet.