Differentiation and Transformation of Festival Food: the Development of Zongzi in Taiwan
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Shih, Guan-Yu
Abstract
Festival foods play an important role in traditional festivals. During the transformation to a modern consumer society in Taiwan, as traditional festivals and family ceremonies are fading away, the way of production and consumption of festival foods changed dramatically. We use Zongzi(sticky rice dumplings) as case in this study in order to explore the differentiation and transformation of Zongzi during 1951 to 2014 in Taiwan. Instructed by the framework of consumer cultural economy, through relevant reports of Zongzi with qualitative content analysis and the production site of Zongzi in Shihmen Farmers’ Association with participant observation, we try to depict the trajectories and changes of the social implications of Zongzi in Taiwan in recent 60 years. Our results showed that, around 1990s, the dominant producers of Zongzi have gradually changed from family to food industry. In the past, Zongzi traditionally emerged only in Dwanwu Festival, but now it becomes a dessert in everyday life. The development of food industrialization, such as refrigeration and distribution, and the rapid expansion and deepening strength of the modern retailing system, are two major keys to facilitate the transformation of production and consumption of Zongzi. Meanwhile, the logic of commercialization makes Zongzi more and more differential than before. On the basis of food industrialization, new forms of Zongzi continue to be created. This process of constructing the “traditional” food is a competition of meaning endowed in political economy; “Hakka Zongzi” is one notable example. These above showed that under the negotiation, conflict and construction of various communities, the meaning of Zongzi has delineated the track of its social life.
Subjects
festival foods
Zongzi
food industrialization
Shihmen Farmers’ Association
Hakka Zongzi
Dwanwu Festival
Type
thesis
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