隔了好一陣子沒有機會寫blog，這是這段時間一直想完整地寫下來的一件事。曾經試著和不同的朋友解釋台灣的飲食文化是怎麼一回事，這也是住在阿德雷得近兩年之後才發現台灣文化中非常獨特的地方。
I haven't gotten a chance to write this blog for a very long time. This is a topic I thought about writing it for a very long time. I have tried to explain what Taiwanese eating culture is. This is also something I found very unique about Taiwan.
對台灣人來說，飲食幾乎是生活的全部，而生活幾乎和飲食有關。這樣的文化還住在台灣的時候不會特別察覺，因為身邊的台灣人也是這樣過生活。但離開台灣的生活圈、朋友中也沒有台灣人的時候，這大概是最常出現鄉愁的時候。
In Taiwan, eating and drinking is nearly everything, and everything is about eating. I didn't notice this when I still lived in Taiwan, because most people live in the same way as I did. But when I moved away from Taiwanese comfort zone and I don't have other Taiwanese friends in Adelaide, this is the moments I feel homesick.
台灣雖然是個很小的島，縱長395公里，寬144 公里，面積約36,000平方公里，這不到400公里的南北距離，包含了豐富而多變的 "台灣料理" 。
Taiwan is a tiny little island, with 395 km in length, 144 km in width and the area of 36,000 square kilometer. Between this less than 400 kilometer, there is a wide range of "Taiwanese cousin".
CNN曾經有一篇介紹 40 種台灣小吃的文章，即使這篇文章已經列出40種看起來完全不同的食物和飲料，還有更多常吃而且想吃的食物不在這個清單上面。做為台灣人，食物有時候也代表了身份認同。比如說，端午節經典的粽子大戰：北部粽只是油飯，南部粽口感軟爛；台中人在包子裡加東泉辣椒醬；嘉義人早餐吃雞肉飯；台南人用砂糖調味。不只是吃什麼，連怎麼吃都是文化的一部份。相隔不到100公里的城市，常常有完全不同風味的特產，這也是台灣料理迷人的地方。
In 2015, a CNN article reported 40 of the best Taiwanese foods and drinks. Although these 40 foods and drinks are already so different, there are more on my "frequent eat" lists. Food also reflects our identity as Taiwanese. For example, the typical wars between sticky rice dumpling from Northern and Southern Taiwan. "Northern dumpling is only fried sticky rice" or "Southern dumping is wet and flavorless." People from Taichung put a particular spicy sauce in their meat bun. People from Chiayi eat "Chiayi chicken rice" for breakfast (this chicken rice needs to be qualified by Chiayi people). People from Tainan put sugar in their cooking (because this used to the city made sugar since the Japanese colonial period since 1901). It is not only what you eat, but also how you eat builds up our identities in the culture. It is common for cities have different food specialties, even they are only less than 100 kilometers away. This is what makes Taiwanese cousin charming.
除此之外，台灣人對飲食的重視，也可以從語言當中一窺究竟。台語的招呼是 "呷飽未" ，一天當中任何時段都可以用。在台語裡，吃飽了沒是見面打招呼的第一句話，相當於英文裡的how are you。就如同英文說how are you 不是真的問how are you，吃飽了沒也常常不是問吃飽了沒，而是一種台灣人開啟對話的方式。
How Taiwanese people value eating and drinking can also be seen in our language. In greeting in Taiwanese is "have you had your meal yet?" and this can be used anything in the day. This greeting works the same as "how are you?" in English. Just like people don't really ask "how are you" in English, Taiwanese people don't really ask "have you had your meal". It is just the way to start conversation in Taiwanese.
另外， "呷飯皇帝大" (吃飯皇帝大) 也是另一個台語當中傳神地表現吃飯是一件生活中非常重要的事。不論是誰，吃飯的時候都像皇帝一般重要。即使是在工作空檔之間的午餐，也倍受重視。之前工作的時候因為中午不能離開，單位裡最重要的是負責訂午餐的人員，還有一張專門的辦公桌；上班第一天的第一件事是去預付訂午餐的費用，額度用完了也有人定期通知補交。午餐的內容有一整本文件夾的選項可以選擇，當然同時可以訂飲料，註明甜度和冰量。訂午餐是開始工作之前最重要的事，而且只要不是做人太差，從早上八點到十點之前一直都有不同人提醒訂午餐了沒，接下來從十一點到一點之間輪流去吃飯，下午偶爾有同事想點下午茶，就還有下一輪點心可以訂，一整天幾乎就在訂飯和吃飯當中渡過。離職的時候，結清訂餐的費用甚至列在離職手續裡面。
Another slang in Taiwanese, "when you are eating, you are the emperor" shows how people take eating seriously. Whoever they are, people are the emperors when eating. It is the same during the lunch break.
I used to work in a position where I could only stay in my work place during lunch time. There was a system for managing lunch in our unit and the lunch manager even had her own office desk. On the first day I started my work, the first thing was to prepaid my lunch fee to the lunch manager. When people finished their quota, the manager would remind us to make the payment again.
There was a 40 page clear folder with a wide range of menu from rice, noodle, light meals and drinks near the work place. Of course they took drink order, and like in Taiwanese tea shops, we put our preference in sugar and ice with our order.
Ordering lunch is the ceremony to start our work. Normally there were different people reminding everyone to order lunch every 30 minutes between 8-10am. From 11am to 1pm, people took turns to have lunch. Some days in the afternoon, people liked to order dessert as afternoon tea. This was when another round of food ordering started. Some moments I felt I came to work for eating, not really for working. Lastly, when I left my position, clear up the lunch bill in listed on the must do list.
更進一步來說，如果在英文裡，small talk是一種拉近陌生人之間距離的社交技巧，那麼，分享食物可以說在某種程度上相當於台灣式的small talk。這種small talk有點微妙，因為在路上遇到迎面而來的陌生人可以small talk，但即使在台灣，沒有熟到一定的程度也不會分享食物。這種台式的small talk通常只限於有過一面之緣，比如像是同個辦公室的同事，但是沒有機會好好說過話，這時候和大家分享自己做的食物、一起訂飲料，以食物做為共同的話題就有機會增加新朋友。
Furthermore, if in English, small talk is the socail skill to bring people together, sharing food and eat together is the Taiwanese small talk in our culture. It is a little bit tricky in this Taiwanese small talk because we don't share food with strangers on the road, but people can small talk with random people. In Taiwan, this type of "food small talk" mostly happen when we have met people several times, but never had the chance to chat with them. If we order and have food or drink together, this is the chance we make new friends.
在台灣的職場上，很常有機會喝到同事請的飲料，而且是同單位的每個人都有，比較不熟的人或是業務可能直接買基本的紅茶、綠茶或咖啡讓大家自己拿，而稍微有一點交情的話，通常是每個人自己點想喝的。台灣飲料店的花樣很多，除了飲料的名稱之外，一定要註明的還有糖量和冰量。就算十個人都點珍珠奶茶，光是每個人不同的糖量和冰量就需要一張夠大的紙記下所有人的選項。
It is quite common to have people buy us drinks in Taiwanese workplace. When we do it, we buy drinks for everyone in the office, not only for few people. If we don't know people very well, we often order basic black or green tea or coffee and everyone just takes one. (The price for a cup of drink is around 1 USD.) If we buy drinks for closer colleagues, we often let people order themselves. There are a lot of tea shops and numerous drinks on their menu. Making the order often requires a A4 paper: except from the name of the drink, we also put down the sugar and ice amount (roughly 75%, 50% or 25%, depending on the store). When ordering ten cups of bubble milk tea, they can still be 10 different customized bubble milk tea at the end. (i.g. bubble milk tea with 50% sugar and 50% ice is different from that with 25% sugar and 75% ice.)
除了飲料店和鹹酥雞這種店裡賣的食物之外，另一個常常分享的是自己做的料理。
Other than drinks from tea shops or fried chicken from vendors, another common food sharing is homemade cooking.
台灣是在最近的30年裡，才從年均GDP 10,000美金提高到今年底的年均GDP 30,000美金，從我有印象以來，在還不流行外食的年代，很多真正好吃的食物是自家廚房裡做的。每家都有一些神秘的獨特料理或調味，而這些台灣家庭料理還有一個特色是，做一次的份量都很大；以前的台灣大多還是三代或四代同堂，家裡的小孩也多，傳統的台式家庭料理像是包粽子、炊粿，以現在小家庭的組成來說，興沖沖地做好之後常常自己家是吃不完的。這時候分給同事、朋友或是鄰居就是台式社交的一部份。
In 1992, the GDP per capita in Taiwan was just over 10,000 USD. (It is 30,000 USD at the end of 2020.) Back in 1992, most people ate at home. That was the time when the most delicious food were made in home kitchen and every family has the secret recipes. Another character about these family cooking is that the amount of traditional cooking are pretty large. These cooking are made for the big families with three or four generations living together in the past. For example, making sticky rice dumpling at home usually is in a scale of 40-60 dumplings in one time. It is impossible to make only one or two dumplings a time. This means 40-60 meals in the fridge at one time. It is impossible for modern small families to make and finish them shortly after dragon boat festival. So, sharing with friends, neighbors or colleagues is necessary and crucial.
而這種台式社交和日本社會的往來不一樣的地方是，日本講究禮尚往來，而且雙方的回禮需要大約等值，但台式的飲食社交卻不是，台灣人基本上沒有記錄今天我請了誰喝飲料、明天誰就要請我吃東西，像這樣的要求。當然，做為一個 "上道" 的台灣人，自然也明白吃人口軟、拿人手短這個道理，多少有一些互相往來的潛規則。比起飲料或是食物本身的價格，台灣人在意的是 "一起吃" 這個分享的社交行為。
Also, this Taiwanese food social is different from the Japanese one. In Japan, it is an art to calculate and give back a similar value of food in return. But in Taiwan, we don't have a notebook documenting I shared something and waiting for people to treat me back equally. Of course there would be some unspoken rules that we will still try to show our thankfulness back to people who buy us foods or drinks. But what matters more is the social activity the action "we eat together."
(In these sharing activities, we don't share foods from a plate, but more like ordering food with individual package for each person like fried chicken. So the food sharing culture doesn't cause trouble during COVID-19. Also in general we don't touch the food with hands in our eating. That's the rule in our recipe.)
"這是我 (家) 做的 oo ，要不要吃一點看看" 如同 "今天天氣很好" ，可以有很多種意思，而且可以同時成立：
我常常看到你，但沒機會和你好好說話，我想認識你。
我做了這個好吃的東西但份量太多，幫我一起吃吧。
你是我的朋友，我做了什麼新奇好吃的東西就會想到你。
端午節快到了，我知道你家可能沒包粽子，要不要試試看我家的。
非常謝謝你之前幫我忙，請你吃這個我做的東西謝謝你。
"This is the homemade something, would you like to try some" is like "the weather is good today". It can be many meanings and these meanings can happen at the same time:
1. I saw you around for a while but I never had a chance to talk with you. I would like to meet you.
2. I made this wonderful food but the serve is too big. Would you like to help me finish it?
3. You are my friend. Every time when I make something I think about you.
4. The festival is coming and I know your family doesn't make dumpling yourself. Would you like to try my homemade one?
5. Thank you very much for your help. I would like to thank you with this homemade food.
而這個分享食物的社交也不限於朋友。業務拜訪客戶的時候，帶飲料上門也是一種敲門磚。在醫療或老師這樣的行業，也會收到病人、家屬或學生的心意：有時候是一整箱的水果、有時候是飲料、有時候是自家製的獨門料理。食物是台灣人真誠表達感謝的一種方式，但不是一種必要的潛規則；不是所有人都用這樣的方式表達對專業人員的謝意，即使不這麼做也不會被大小眼，但忙了一整天收到這樣的 "心意" 的時候，心裡還是覺得溫暖。
This food sharing is not limited between friends. When sales people visit their customers, bring what drink is an art. Even in the field of medicine or education, people get this kind of food thankfulness from patients, families or students. Sometime is a whole box of fruit for everyone in the office. Sometimes is drinks (described above). Sometimes is homemade specials. Food is a way how Taiwanese people show our sincerely thankfulness, but it is not a necessary unspoken rule. Not everyone expresses in this way. If you don't do this, people will still treat you nicely. But after a hard working day, having a drink like this skill made me feel warm.
其他更具體的例子像是，我家不會包豆沙粽，但總有會包的人分給我們。端午節前有時同事預告明天帶粽子來，資深一點的同事知道誰家的粽子料多好吃。烤了看起來熱量很高的蛋糕、收到一大盒月餅，但分給大家一起吃之後，似乎就沒那麼罪惡而可以再烤下一個點心了。
Some other examples are when my family don't make sweet sticky rice dumpling, some other friends share with me. Some colleagues tell us they would bring their dumpling and senior colleagues know who's family make the best dumplings in the office. If I bake some high-calories fruit tarts, I shared with people so that I feel less guilty to finish them alone and I can make my next cheese cake.
生活在台灣這種吃喝的花樣非常多，冬天有元宵、春天有春捲、夏天有粽子、秋天有月餅。對台灣人來說，分享食物是破冰、是社交、是表達感謝、是身份認同，也是在節日互相合作的一種社會默契，這是生活在台灣社會的人情味。
There are a lot of seasonal food in Taiwan. For example, in winter is the glutinous rice ball, in Spring is the spring roll (different from the Vietnam one), in summer is the sticky rice dumpling, in autumn is the moon cake. For Taiwanese people, sharing food is ice breaking, is social, is to show our thankfulness, is an identity and is also a social interests (as in Adler psychology). This is what we call "human warmth" in Taiwan.
這是少數我在阿德雷得覺得有點寂寞的時候：我遇過來自不同國家的人，但我沒有遇過另一個同樣以飲食small talk的人。
This is the very few moments I feel lonely in Adelaide: I meet friends from different countries, but I never meet someone small talk with food like Taiwanese do.
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