Ninth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Breakfast is often regarded as the most important meal of the day. However, when we examine how people eat their breakfast, we can easily find out that its eating places and meals are influenced more easily by their working time or the change of daily schedule than lunch and dinner. For Taiwanese, the time, the place of eating breakfast and the content of breakfast are all characterized by a great diversity. Taiwanese breakfast represents the authentic taste of Taiwan, a taste that mixes local cuisine and exotic cuisine. Therefore, this article analyzes how the breakfast culture develops in Taiwan and its socialization. First, I use the theory of “bodily experience” to investigate the way people choose their food for breakfast and the reasons cause the changes as time goes on and the differences of the social form in a historical perspective. These investigations reveal how social, economic and political elements influence the breakfast culture. Second, Michel de Certeau’s concepts of strategies and tactics are applied to examine how people overcome the restrictions of time and place due to working and social rhythm to eat breakfast. By interviews and fieldwork with people in different professions, ages and living place, and the breakfast shop owners, the study explores the relation between Taiwanese breakfast culture and the transformation of Taiwan society. Furthermore, the study seeks to distinguish features of breakfast culture in Taiwan, and how the Taiwanese food culture is disseminated overseas.