蜂蜜・蜜蜂：蜂蜜之消費文化史與環境視角的探討

本論文討論的主題有二，第一部分為第一章到第三章討論臺灣蜂蜜的消費文化史。在清代，漢人將蜂蜜視為一種藥材，少數原住民則將之作為調味料使用，可是當時養蜂技術尚未成熟，產量也不高，所以難以取得。到了日治時期，1910年代日人開始改良臺灣的養蜂技術，1920年代臺灣蜂蜜產量及消費量開始增加，用途也漸漸多元，成為了許多飲食及工業產品的原料。此外，1920年代以後營養學發展，人們開始注意到蜂蜜所含豐富的營養價值。1970年代以後，隨著養蜂產業的發展，蜂蜜產量和消費量更增加，蜂蜜的消費者及用途也有些變化。例如，嬰兒不再是蜂蜜的主要消費者，相反的，女性消費蜂蜜的機會越來越多。第二部分則是從蜜蜂看臺灣的環境問題。日治時期到1990年代之前，部分人將蜜蜂視為害蟲，並忽略其授粉能力，然而自1990年代起，在國際貿易自由化的影響下，為了提升農作物的收成與品質，臺灣政府大力推廣蜜蜂的授粉利用。然而，自1950年代起，臺灣民眾普遍使用化學農藥，直到現在仍危害蜜蜂的生存，人類仍對之不夠友善。2006年到2007年的冬天美國爆發蜜蜂大量消失的現象，後來包括臺灣在內，世界各地也陸續發生類似的現象。過去許多學者認為造成蜜蜂減少的原因是多重而非單一因素，每個地區蜜蜂減少的原因也不一樣，不能視農藥為唯一的因素，但近年的研究指出，微量的益達胺殺蟲劑導致蜜蜂的學習記憶能力喪失，進而造成蜜蜂大量消失。蜜蜂的消失暗示著我們農藥問題的嚴重性。

關鍵字

蜜蜂；蜂蜜；飲食史；環境；農藥

並列摘要

Honey, a sweet and viscous food substance, is made from the sugary secretion of flower through honeybees. Due to its many beneficial properties, honey has been used since the ancient times. This study investigates the evolutionary usage of honey throughout history on the island of Taiwan from the Qing Dynasty period to present day. Furthermore, it also discusses how environmental issues on the island indirectly affects the production of honey and even ourselves. There are two topics discussed in this paper. The first part is the first to the third chapter discussing the history of Taiwan honey consumption culture. In the Qing Dynasty, the Han people had regarded honey as a medicinal ingredient, but a few Taiwanese aborigines tribes have insted used it as a seasoning. However, at that time, knowledge of beekeeping technology was not yet mature, resulting in low yield and difficulty in gathering. During the Japanese occupation period, the Japanese began to improve Taiwan’s beekeeping technology in the 1910’s. In 1920’s, Taiwan’s honey production and consumption began to increase, and its uses gradually became diversified. It became the raw material for many food and industrial products. In addition, with the development of nutrition after the 1920’s, people began to notice the rich nutritional value of honey. After the 1970’s, with the development of the beekeeping industry, not only the production and consumption of honey increased, but the consumers and uses of honey also changed. For example, babies are no longer the main consumers of honey. On the contrary, women were also became active consumers of honey. The second part is looking at Taiwan’s environmental problems from the perspective of honeybees. During the Japanese occupation and before the 1990’s, some people regarded honeybees as pests and were unaware of pollination abilities. Since the 1990’s, under the influence of the international trade liberalization, the Taiwanese government has vigorously encouraged the pollination ability of honeybees in order to improve the crop’s yield and quality. However, since the 1950’s, Taiwanese people have generally used chemical pesticides, which still endangered the survival of bees. In the winter of 2006 to 2007, a large number of honeybees disappeared in the United States. Later, including Taiwan, similar phenomena occurred in various parts of the world. In the past, many scholars believed that the reduction of numbers in honeybees was caused by multiple factors rather than a single factor. The reasons for the reduction of honeybees in each region were different, so pesticides could not be regarded as the only factor. But, recent studies have showned that a small amount of imidacloprid insecticides causes honeybee’s loss of learning and memory ability. With the disruption of these skills, it consequently causes a large number of bees to disappear. The disappearance of honeybees highlights the seriousness of our pesticide problem onto the environment.