日本媽媽的臺菜物語

by Tae Hitoto, 一青妙, 陳惠莉 (Translator)

父親出身於臺灣五大家族之一的基隆顏家，母親是來自日本的異國女子，
在二戰剛結束的年代，臺灣與日本陷於混亂不安的氛圍……
身為臺日混血兒的作者一青妙，在成長的過程如何體會、看待臺灣與日本間的文化差異？
嫁作臺灣媳婦的作者母親，又是如何嘗試著從學做臺菜，開始融入臺灣社會？

一青妙在書中介紹了各式各樣的臺灣料理，
更從每一道料理回味與母親之間的相處情景，
在臺灣與日本兩地的生活，以及種種家族情事。
同時，藉由這些追尋，一點一滴揭開了她總是微笑以對的母親，
其不為人知的辛酸與哀愁。

一青妙藉由首本作品《我的箱子》，整理了父母親之間的愛情物語、她的家族物語，
以及她和基隆顏家的感情物語。
《我的箱子》彷彿女兒寫給爸爸的一封長信，滿懷思念之情。
而這本《日本媽媽的臺菜物語》，則有如女兒寫給媽媽的另一封長信，
藉由書寫描述媽媽親手烹煮過的每一道臺灣料理，
回憶、感受、悼念媽媽的母愛！

260 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2013

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mama, Food Isn't Ready Yet? is a memoir written by Tae Hitoto, a Japanese author who is half-Taiwanese and half-Japanese in parentage. Through her writing, Ms. Hitoto recalls her family life with her late parents (Taiwanese father and Japanese mother) and a younger sister (who happens to be pop singer Yo Hitoto) and the many mouth-watering Taiwanese dishes carefully and attentively prepared by her mother.

The romance between Ms. Hitoto's late parents in the 1970s period is a highly unusual one: a young woman (whose family suffered a lot of hardship after WWII) met an older Taiwanese man (who was raised to identify himself as a Japanese in the colonized Taiwan before WWII), not only they had cultural differences, age differences and the whole China v.s. Japan bad blood and grudges between them, and BANG! The young woman only discovered her suitor was in fact the heir of one of Taiwan's richest families after she traveled to Taiwan for the first time!

Sounds a bit like Crazy Rich Asians, right?

But make no mistake here, the romance between Ms. Hitoto's parents and their family life is no fairy tale. We learnt from the book that Ms. Hitoto's late mother (being a rather traditional housewife) had made a lot of sacrifices in order to adjust into her husband's family and the unfamiliar Taiwanese society (before the mother relocated herself and her two daughters back to Japan later on).

On the other hand, torn between the conflicting identities of being a Chinese/Taiwanese and a Japanese, the author's late father was also suffered with long episodes of withdraws and depression even since the end of WWII, which the author believes shortened his life.

Perhaps due to all these hardships and stress, both Ms. Hitoto's parents died young, the father passed away when the author was around 12 or 13 years old, the mother passed away when the author was twenty-five years old.

The most catchy parts of the book are the many delicious Taiwanese food which Ms. Hitoto described in her book (e.g. the 'train lunchbox' and the homemade lunchbox the author once had as a child), Ms. Hitoto first tasted those delicious dishes when her mother cooked them and later after the mother's passing, she discovered those dishes yet again on her late mother's recipes.

Through those Taiwanese food, we also learn the many family stories beyond them, we get to know more about the author and her family, and how the author came to realize the depth of her parents' problems, how much her mother had looked after her husband and daughters without complaints for years, how insensitive the author herself had been from time to time toward her mother, etc.

To sum up, it's an endearing books with many heart-warming moments, many fine and interesting details about the Taiwanese society from the 1980s to 1990s, it also carries itself with a good sense of humor; plus this book also quite reminds me of Memories of Old Peking.

More book about Taiwan:

My review for Mountain of the Sleeping Moon: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[阿近 · Rating 5 out of 5]

　　已經不記得當初為什麼對《我的箱子》感興趣了。可能是很想知道一青妙女士記錄其父顏惠民度過怎麼樣的人生，也可能是很喜歡其妹一青窈的〈もらい泣き〉，基於好奇的心態才開始接觸的吧？不同於第一本書《我的箱子》主要記錄父親的事情，《日本媽媽的臺菜物語》以作者母親一青和枝女士留下的食譜筆記為主軸，佐以母女與家庭的回憶，作者的文筆溫厚平和，時光沖刷掉負面事件的衝擊傷害，反芻後保留在字裡行間的是母親細心守護家庭的暖意，還有已為人妻、為人母的作者如今可以站在母親當年的立場去同理她的心情，並為年輕時候的自己享用母親辛苦製作的料理，卻未曾好好表達謝意而感到遲來的隱痛。

　　一青妙女士描寫母親親手製作的料理有哪些，並敘述伴隨食物而生的回憶，或者分享從親戚或父母舊識聽聞到的雙親不為家人所知的面貌，回憶不盡愉快，偶爾有些刺痛在心，但整體讀來熨貼舒適，像是嚴冬時穿上厚重外套一樣，感受著那份重量和保護自己不受寒風侵襲的溫暖。本作聊到許多臺菜料理，讀到那些食物時，我的腦海裡會不自覺地想起自己也吃過的那些菜色，有時是對照兩邊烹調的差異，有時看到作者在台灣生活時的飲食經驗也會頗有同感，內心狂點頭贊同。

　　藉由一青妙女士約十年左右的在台灣生活的童年敘述，也在字裡行間裡重繪出一九七零年代至一九八零年代的臺灣市井風貌，有股懷舊的氣味撲面而來，而且可能是因為透出相似的氣息，看那些在街上攤販買早餐、和媽媽一起去美容院洗頭髮的記憶，腦袋裡浮現學生時期閱讀的〈吃冰的滋味〉一文。一青妙筆下那些商業活動形象跟我現在對攤販或美容院運作的印象有些微落差，但也因此可以感覺到數十年來時光推移的影響，店家營運方式或跟客人互動的方式也在這段時間裡慢慢地轉變成現在的我所熟悉的樣貌。

　　《日本媽媽的臺菜物語》分享很多母女之間的溫馨回憶，我特別喜歡的一點是一青和枝女士在女兒作出叛逆舉止時，不是硬碰硬地大呼小叫，強迫女兒聽自己的教誨，而是採取書信的方式跟女兒委婉溝通，溫和地指出女兒的錯誤，並表達自己對她的關愛，而一青妙在慚愧之下，也漸漸改掉會令母親擔憂的習性，成長為堅強獨立的社會人士。那種母女、姊妹互相守護的堅毅與溫暖是貫穿全書的特質。