*3.6. From Indigenous Flavor to the Making of Local Terroir: A Study of the Taste of Processes in Indigenous Agro-Products and the Function of a Local Fermentation Workshop*

This project considers three kinds of indigenous fermentation-based sauces, flavors, and products: "red rice *koji*" which is a kind of fungus (used in making *anka*, a type of miso paste), "daylily fermented paste", and fermented "millet wine". Based on these products, the project discusses the interaction and formation of a multi-species production chain, indigenous flavors, local terroir, and ethnically embodied memories. The project aims to present research on two indigenous agricultural communities and their cooperative fermentation workshops producing indigenous flavors in Eastern Taiwan. These unique indigenous flavors are referred to here as the local terroir, the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a product by the environment in which it is produced. Based on the historical trajectory of local workshop development, as well as the recent promotion of indigenous taste, this project explores the transition of fermented agro-product manufacture from family operations to community networks and finally to large-scale tourism factories. Reflection on the industrialization of fermentation processes reveals translation work in producing indigenous flavors and its relationship to the construction of local cultural identity.

How does the industrial-scale production process reproduce the "terroir" of indigenous materials and climate, as well as the local memory of original taste? This is the main focus of this project. The production chain of indigenous flavors relies on the interaction among three fields: Collection of indigenous agro-materials, the fermentation technology used, and the promotion of consumption of traditional flavors. The concept of a "boundary object" [19] is a key to the project, since these indigenous products help start a dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Another key idea, multispecies ethnography (with fungi, millet, daylily flavors, and involving indigenous farmers and fermentation craftsman) helps shed light on extensive relations involving indigenous taste and terroir.

In the end, this project aims to discuss and critically trace the transition from a local agriculture-based production chain to an outside-oriented industrial-scale production network. It documents the conversion of production to serve the Han Chinese market, while trying to retain indigenous control. It reveals how local terroir based on indigenous landscape, special ways of planting and harvesting, and ancestral tales, are combined with a branded logo for consumption by non-indigenous visitors. While unfriendly policies have created difficulties for organic certification, local efforts and traditional knowledge help to promote indigenous agricultural sovereignty. The investment of indigenous labor turns an unfavorable work environment into meaningful products. Organic farming is not a feminized mode of production that reflects "women's work" as wage labor considered low in social class. Rather, it is a corporeal revelation of the relationship between body and work: A demonstration of symbolic capital in the form of embodied experiences. Local terroir is regained through actively promoted local taste via fermentation workshops and story-making in empowered co-op tourism.

### **4. Discussion**

The six cases illustrate alternative forms of development that aim to give priority to social, cultural, and ecological aspects of sustainable community development. They are fundamentally different from the Western paradigm of development and "progress"which are an extension of colonialism and which prioritize profits above all. The cases in this paper document how indigenous peoples are transforming cultural heritage into local economic forms that draw upon traditional knowledge and practice. This is the heritagization process we discuss in this paper—renewal of cultural heritage by strengthening and promoting the roots of indigenous traditions of knowledge and practice towards culturally appropriate social and economic development options. Cultural revitalization is an essential part of heritagization, and the context for understanding social, cultural, economic, and political action in indigenous communities.

We have argued that heritage needs to be understood in the broadest of terms to encompass not only past traditions but also contemporary conditions. The paper deals with the historical and contemporary conditions of Taiwanese indigenous peoples, and it also looks to the future. The six cases provide an accounting of the continuity of indigenous peoples, their cultures and their development. This is shown by the research themes addressed by this paper:


practices of cultural heritagization, interpretive process, and transformation of skills and techniques involving cultural innovation.


The paper takes a significant step in providing a greater appreciation of the diversity of Taiwan's indigenous peoples, and possibilities of cultural revitalization. The inclusion of several tribes and multiple communities in the study helps document a rich experience. This is important because each case involves different conditions, challenges and opportunities. Reducing the study to fewer cases would have missed this richness and would have lowered the quality of the paper and the strength of its findings. However, the heritagization and development experience captured here, focusing as it does mainly on the east coast (Figure 1) is only a small part of the diversity and complexity of indigenous Taiwan. Therefore, we call for more empirical work that makes indigenous peoples and their communities the central vantage point to illustrate indigenous views and to provide a better understanding of the indigenous experience.

In examining and reflecting on indigenous concepts from cultural production to practice and participation, the paper provides Taiwanese perspectives on the renewal of indigenous cultural heritage, the generation of options in response to development needs, and the implications of cultural heritagization. The case studies show that culturally appropriate development is possible and feasible in a number of areas, from cultural tourism to millet wine production. Many of the cases involve social enterprises, as part of a solidarity economy. The cases do not follow the utilitarian economic development models based on profit. Rather, they aim to provide multiple benefits such as self-determination, cultural identity and pride, empowerment, and revitalization. Social enterprises are a good fit for indigenous economic development, as they help to establish control and manage local affairs [20]. They strengthen cultural relationships such as food-sharing [8], as in tribal kitchens. These enterprises and projects are important for controlling the direction of development, and thus they have the potential to contribute to indigenous resilience.

Importantly, these projects provide development options, based on the "roots" of cultural heritage, for indigenous communities impacted by the Typhoon Morakot of 2009 and other environmental disasters. Maintaining a diversity of options is important because it provides flexibility and opens up the opportunity to learn from a diversity of development "experiments". Such a resilience-building strategy is significant in the face of Taiwan's disaster-prone geography, and the likely increase in the frequency and strength of typhoon events in the coming years. Thus, this paper is focused on the historical and contemporary conditions of Taiwanese indigenous cultures, but it also looks toward a resilient future.

The six cases deal with a diversity of indigenous peoples, communities, cultures, and development possibilities. Based on the results of these sub-projects, reported at various stages [13,14,18,21–23], we continue to delve into indigenous cultural heritage as our overarching research area. In doing so, we connect indigenous communities and make use of multiple research perspectives related to Taiwan's indigenous cultural heritage and relevant practical experience. The "six-sided prism" interpretative analysis (Figure 3) is used to show the path from analysis of cultural heritage to development. The prism summarizes how multiple projects are engaged with the research themes. Based on our findings, the three pie-charts indicate the main areas of tension and dynamics between global/national level market forces and local struggles for sustainability, for example, neo-liberalism vs. solidarity economy.

**Figure 3.** Relationship diagram of the key concepts and issues of "heritagization" of indigenous community practices and the local economy.

There is no one model for alternative development. Based on the situation and the current state of various indigenous communities, multiple possibilities are explored in the face of globalization. Moreover, indigenous community esthetics and the new vision of indigenous cultural heritage are presented through local agriculture, weaving and other artisanal techniques, ethnic cuisine, history, ceremonies, the establishment of collective participation and local cohesiveness, as well as the maintenance of cultural heritage. Each involves issues worthy of attention. The research team not only focuses the discussion and analysis on the themes and issues of the various sub-projects, but also through common networks of practice.

Together these six cases emphasize the connectivity and divergence of communities in different regions of Taiwan. Case studies and observations of situations are used to explore how heritage can be transformed into local industries that drive indigenous community tourism and sustainable development strategies. As well, the cases reflect on the cooperative relationships within and between indigenous communities in different areas, and political, economic, and social organizations. In these relationships we highlight issues related to the building of cultural heritagization involving dialectical relationships and derivative commercialization and industrialization. For example, solidarity economy is a critique of conventional economies that prioritize competition and profits above all. Instead, solidarity economy places human needs and relationships at the center, and is therefore similar to the Latin America-based international movement, *buenvivir* ("good living" in Spanish) [24].

From Clifford's alternative views of history [9,10], thought is given to cultural heritagization as the action core of indigenous community practices and local economies. Six key areas (food heritage, historical practices, weaving-related memories, ethnic tourism, solidarity economy, and indigenous terroir) are the issues of concern for the six collaborating researchers. From Taiwan's indigenous subjective concepts, the application of this integrated research project is used to explain how "the rich and glorious knowledge of the past" is inlaid in "modern times". Through selection mechanisms, namely the different concepts and directions of the sub-projects, we elaborate on the idea that cultural heritage is the concrete presentation of history, artisanal techniques, knowledge, values, internal

logic, and cultural practices. Taking this a step further, we place emphasis on the necessary activation of indigenous traditional cultural heritage in the rebuilding of connections with the land and for indigenous community "life projects" [5] and local development mechanisms to take root.

Moreover, the food consumed and the clothing worn in daily life involve the most basic cycles of food, artisanal techniques, and ecology. Through the integration of local economy and mainstream markets, traditional knowledge (history) again becomes part of the practice and experience of market mechanisms, through experimentation to form cultural affirmations and economic flows. "Cultural heritage" is the greatest asset that contemporary indigenous people possess, something precious left behind by the past generations that has once again been proven to possess contemporary value, and has not been washed away in the torrent of time. Moreover, indigenous groups are building empowerment mechanisms and reviving cultural kinetic energy. This paper takes a significant step toward providing a greater appreciation of the diversity and possibilities of cultural heritage of Taiwanese indigenous communities and peoples.

In this way, the relationship between "the past" and "contemporary practice" forms a positive and dynamic cycle. Figure 4 provides a detailed expression of the integration of practices, approaches, and six key areas. The cultural past is not simply the cultural future. The "roots" of indigenous cultural heritage provide a diversity of cultural elements to select from. In our study, we selected the six areas shown in the figure, but there are of course many others. These selected areas become the engine for local economic development, leading to new social, cultural, political, and environmental benefits, for example, the cultural capital needed for the tourism economy. They also lead to practices that sustain these various benefits, leading to renewed and reconstructed cultural heritage.

**Figure 4.** Integrated project practices and approaches (adapted from [25] (p.93)).

### **5. Conclusions**

Our attempt, through the study of cultural revitalization, to understand changes related to indigenous heritage leading to social, cultural, economic, and political action, has many practical and theoretical implications. The expected academic and practical benefits of this project may be summarized as follows:


cultures. Moreover, these practices can be transformed into the cultural, symbolic and economic capitals for local industry.


**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.H.-y.Y., S.-c.L. (Su-chen Lin), S.-c.L. (Shu-chuan Lai), Y.-h.H., C.Y.-f., Y.-t.L., and F.B.; methodology, J.H.-y.Y., S.-c.L. (Su-chen Lin), S.-c.L. (Shu-chuan Lai), Y.-h.H., C.Y.-f. and Y.-t.L.; validation, J.H.-y.Y. and F.B.; formal analysis, J.H.-y.Y., S.-c.L. (Su-chen Lin), S.-c.L. (Shu-chuan Lai), Y.-h.H.,C.Y.-f. and Y.-t.L.; writing—original draft preparation, J.H.-y.Y. and F.B.; writing—review and editing, J.H.-y.Y. and F.B.; supervision, F.B.; project administration, J.H.-y.Y.; funding acquisition, J.H.-y.Y., S.-c.L. (Su-chen Lin), S.-c.L. (Shu-chuan Lai), Y.-h.H., C.Y.-f. and Y.-t.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, grant numbers 106-2420-H-259-019, 107-2420-H-259-010-MY2; 107-2420-H-259-011-MY2; 106-2420-H-259-021, 107-2420-H-259-012-MY2; 106-2420-H-259-022, 107-2420-H-259-013-MY2; 107-2420-H259- 014-MY2; 106-2420-H-259-020.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** IRB was not required as this manuscript is a summary of six research projects. However, each research project of this paper was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University, Taiwan.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable, as this paper is a synthesis of six projects.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

**Acknowledgments:** Authors 1 to 6 want to thank all the indigenous communities that they have worked together for past three more years. We specially extend our deep gratitude to the Elders, knowledge and skills holders throughout this text. We also want to thank Russell Belk and Patricia Haseltine for their comments on earlier draft and English language improvements. Thank you to Cheryl Robbins for some text translations, Jasper Wu for the visual support, and Mucahid Mustafa Bayrak's professional editing help for referencing and style.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this work are those authors and have not been endorsed by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
