全球與在地的擺盪：寮國咖啡在台灣的在地化想像

Abstract

由於對工業食物系統的不信任及全球食物供應系統的反動，自1980年代開始，西方興起農業食物在地化實踐與研究。為了回應和解決全球化食物生產有可能帶來的疑慮及問題，農業食物系統轉向在地，強調地方在食物生產過程中的重要性，透過直接市場或是產地認證等方式銷售的產品，農業食物的生產與消費被劃定在一個具有封閉邊界的特定區域內，另類農業食物網絡也因此成為了主要的討論方向。然而，對於長期被定位為經濟作物生產的咖啡和可可等類農作來說，在地的直接生產與消費的討論並不適用，可是在咖啡的發展歷程中，對於在地的追求卻同樣出現在近期的消費轉向之中。 在2000左右開始的第三波咖啡浪潮中 (The third coffee wave)，咖啡消費者從對於連鎖咖啡產業的熱愛，轉而以追求特殊產地的精品咖啡 (Specialty Coffee，亦譯為特色咖啡)，強調的是咖啡因其種植的產區不同，導致在咖啡生長的過程中，會受到不同的氣候、海拔、土質及栽種方式等影響，生產出的特殊咖啡豆；換句話說，咖啡的消費模式，已經從以往對於商業配方豆的信任，轉而討論起地方對於咖啡的影響，消費者在購買過程中，不只是從口感及氣味上認識咖啡，更關注於咖啡生產的在地樣貌及勞動過程 (Taguchi，2012)。 本研究透過寮國的咖啡在地生產，及其在台灣的消費為例，重新思考「在地」在寮國咖啡中所代表的內涵。在寮國，標榜在地的寮國咖啡，其生產已經是一個跨尺度的過程，從殖民地遺產到現代加工技術跨區域的轉移正在互相拼裝出新的寮國咖啡的樣貌。然而，在台灣消費方面，這種跨尺度的過程已被靜音，生產者利用「原始」、「自然」及「傳統」的圖像來重新包裝寮國咖啡，此外，在寮國當地的銷售者，在販售寮國咖啡時，也試圖結合其殖民歷史，創造出以地方為出發的「風土」(Terroir) 咖啡論述，藉以強化寮國在地對咖啡所帶來的特殊性。因此，我透過分析寮國咖啡品牌是如何被政府、企業重新形塑，並再現給消費者的過程，和實際在咖啡產地所見到的樣貌結合，表現出寮國咖啡從生產到消費都脫離不了跨尺度的政治經濟運作，所謂的地方糧食生產和消費的過程中，事實上是涉及多尺度聯繫和政治因子，這也使得「在地」的意義和經驗被複雜化，此外，在銷售端不斷建構風土與精品咖啡和寮國咖啡之間的必然性時，有可能因此而忽略了當地勞動所必須面對的困難與掙扎。

Because of the distrust of the industrial food production and the resistance against global food supply system, alternative agro-food systems have emerged worldwide since 2000. Alternative agro-food systems emphasize local production and consumption. “Being local” has gradually symbolized the “high-quality” food produced in a specific area with closed boundary. Meanwhile, this image of “bounded local” has been enhanced through the official endorsement, such as certification of origin. In addition, the effect of“local food system ” also happened in the third coffee wave which started in 2000. Gradually, consumers changed their consuming habits. People came to realize the benefit of single-origin coffee. Explained by Erna Knutsen, single-origin coffee is the premium coffee – or “specialty coffee” – made from exceptional beans that grown only in ideal coffee-producing climate areas. Single-origin coffee features a distinctive flavor, which is the result of the unique characteristics of the soil that produces it. The fact that consumers gradually started to favor specialty coffee more than commercial formula beans shows how local, specialty products become an essential element in the coffee production system. Furthermore, recently as more consumers chose to shop for specialty coffee, they not only choose their product base on the taste and smell, but they would pay attention to the appearance and production process. (Taguchi, 2012). However, from production to sales, the process of so-called local food production and consumption involves multi-scalar connections and politics, which complicate the practices and meanings of “being local.” This research uses the coffee produced in Laos and its consumption in Taiwan as the case to investigate the issue. I argue that the production of “local” Laotian coffee has been multi-scalar processes assembling elements from colonial legacy to cross-regional transfer of modern processing technologies. Yet , on the consumption side, the multi-scalar processes have been muted in order to purify a “local” Laotian coffee with images of “primitiveness” and “nature.” As a result, “local” has never been the antonym of 'global '. The production and marketing processes of Laotian coffee manifest the multi-scalar political economic operations from production to consumption.