隨著臺鹽公司於2002年結束臺灣的日晒海鹽生產,臺灣西南部沿岸曾面對「無鹽的結局」。但是,經過部分人士進行復晒及產品行銷,近年臺灣日晒鹽重新出現在市場之中。本研究透過物質文化及後人類主義的分析框架,探討復晒日晒鹽所影響的文化分類及社會網絡。本文先描述臺17線沿路鹽田的濕地化及文資化,說明鹽業的沒落、環境保護活動的興起及文化資產保存等背景因素,如何導致鹽田地景及其意義有所改變。然後,筆者利用布袋鎮洲南鹽場的案例,探討行動者在推動鹽業文化時面對的困境與解決問題的過程,以及他們所建構的鹽巴分類方式。藉著記錄人與藻互動下產生的新鹽花分類,以及人的風土感官經驗進行產品行銷,筆者將討論鹽巴如何成為美食料理的「最佳配角」和串連美食網絡的非人行動者。
In 2002, the Taiwan Salt Works discontinued its Taiwan salt field operations. This decision represented the end of Taiwanese salt production. However, Taiwanese sun-dried salt re-entered the market thanks to heritage conservation practitioners' efforts of salt field re-operation, heritage management, environmental education, and marketing. Adopting the analytical frameworks of the social life of things and posthumanism, this paper explores the practitioners' recategorization of salt products and their extension of social networks. This ethnography first describes the heritagitization and wetlandization of former salt fields located along coastal southwestern Taiwan. I explain how the decline of salt industry, the rise of the Taiwanese environmental movement, and cultural heritage preservation have led to a new salt-field-wetland landscape. This formation has affected human-nature interactions. Next, I use the case study of Zhou Nan Salt Field in Budai Township, Chiayi County, to examine how its practitioners tackle different issues of salt industrial heritage conservation. I also investigate how and why they re-categorize salt. After that, this paper analyzes the experiences of the practitioners' interactions with algae and their perception categories of salt tasting to market their salt products. I also discuss how these people explore the market and attract customers by shaping the supporting role of salt in terms of gastronomy and its associated network.