本文目的有二:一在說明人類學對飲食研究的基本途徑與觀點,二在歸納現有研究文獻的發現,以作為未來研究討論的基礎。從人類學的觀點,飲食不僅具有個人的營養、成長及健康的生理意羲,且具有廣泛深刻的社會文化意義。人類學研究飲食行為的基本理論觀點則大致可歸納為功能、結構及象徵等三大類。回顧漢人飲食文化之文獻,我們也發現研究取徑興主題均極其多元。本文根據幾篇以社會文化角度分析漢人飲食世界的文獻,綜合歸納出漢人飲食的理念與行為兩層面的特色。漢人飲食的文化理念包括有強調陰陽、冷熱之平衡的冷熱體系,以五行終始、五味調和為原則的五行系統,以及個體與自然、社會等三層面所欲企及之均衡與和諧。而在漢人飲食的行為中,不論是飲食禁忌所表徵的社會地位,餐飲形式所意涵的親疏關係,祭品所象徵之人與鬼、神、祖先的距離,乃至飲食習慣與群體認同的關係等,使我們大體可以瞭解到,透過對飲食行為的剖析,的確可以從中找出許多重要的社會文化意義。在既有的基礎上,本文認為未來的研究應將部份焦點轉移到飲食習慣的實證研究。在鉅觀層次上,有必要探討暨臺灣社會在食品及藥物的消費特性;微觀層次上,則宣將重心落實到個人及家庭層次的飲食行為。根據前述兩層次的系統化研究結果,我們可以進行不同社會間的比較研究,當資料累積充足時,還可進行跨文化比較研究,以探索人類飲食行為的基本模式,及影響飲食行為的因素。
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to illustrate the diversified approaches in anthropological studies of diet and food; second, to sum up the fundamental findings in related literature such that suggestions for future studies can be made. Human's dietary behaviors, from an anthropological point of view, not only have bilogical function, but also sociocultural meanings. It has been demontrated that most studies in earlier stage were interested in nutritional-medical, historical, and sociocultural analysis. Only until the 1970's, the structural and symbolic approaches arised as a new perspective in the studies of Chinese food and diet. Analysis using different approaches testified to the diversity of Chinese dietary culture. Along with an overall review, we recommend that the future studies focus on the analysis of food consumption from a macro socio-economic and cultural pespective, and a more empirical study of food habit is urged.