Cognac and Pool-choi 盆菜: A social History of the Invention of Hong Kong Tradition in Festive Food Culture

Josephine Smart

《中華飲食文化學術研討會論文集》 第9屆 (2006/08) Pp. 27-60

https://doi.org/10.6641/PICCFC.91012.2006.09.02

並列摘要

Cognac and poon choi are signature items of Hong Kong festivity food; the former as a drink of choice at wedding banquets since the 1970s, and the latter as a New Year and other special occasion food since 1997. The culinary root and cultural meanings of these two items are dissimilar cognac is an imported French product while poon-choi is a rural culinary tradition among the indigenous population in the New Territories in Hong Kong. Cognac's successful integration into the Hong Kong Chinese food culture has much to do with the search for modernity and its expression by Hong Kong people in the wake of its economic take-off in the 1970s. Poon-choi has nothing to do with modernity, its popularization around 1997 was driven by identity politics rooted in the widespread resistance to the anticipated cultural and political imperialism by mainland China upon the 1997 transition from British territory to Chinese sovereignty. Both items have become an established tradition in Hong Kong food culture. This paper will discuss the social history of each culinary tradition invention and show how the social construction of food tradition can serve diverse political and social-economic objectives.