Amateur Cooking Schools and the Self-Fashioning of a 'Middle Class'

業餘烹飪學校與新「中產階級」的現象

10.30152/JCDC.201101.0002

甄穎(Willa Zhen)

業餘烹飪學校 ； 廣州市 ； 中產階級 ； 認同 ； Cooking schools ； Guangzhou ； middle class ； identity

中國飲食文化

7卷1期（2011 / 01 / 01）

61 - 88

英文

本文討論在改革後的中國所出現的業餘烹飪學校與新「中產階級」的現象。本文試圖透過於兩個業餘烹飪學校所得的民族誌資料，配合與廚師、飲食作家、飲食記者的訪談，集中處理業餘烹飪學校學生的故事與烹飪學校的論述。業餘烹飪學校，無論是在過去或現在，都藉著推廣及反映中產階級和富裕階層的消費，反映出當地飲食文化中好奇的利基。當職業學校充滿對工作、技能和就業能力的論述，業餘烹飪學校卻是推廣休閒和自我實現的課程。通過這些敘述，我認爲業餘烹飪學校不僅是教學和學習廚藝的場所，而且還提供空間，讓個人吸收及協調中產階層的身份認同。

This article discusses the phenomenon of amateur cooking schools in post-reform China and their connection with the rise of a new 'middle class.' Using ethnographic accounts collected from two amateur cooking schools and interviews with cooks, food writers, and journalists, this article places their role within the current culinary landscape of Guangzhou. This ethnographic material includes narratives from different students who enroll in amateur cooking schools and the discourses surrounding the schools themselves. Amateur cooking schools, both historically and at present, have filled a curious niche in local foodways through their responsiveness and promotion of trends to middle class and wealthy consumers. While vocational schools are built around discourses of work, skills, and employability, amateur cooking schools promote leisure and self-fulfillment in their curriculum. Through these narratives I argue that amateur cooking schools are not only sites of teaching and learning, but also spaces where individuals absorb and negotiate middle class identities though learning how to cook.

1. Appadurai, Arjun(1988).How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India.Contemporary Studies in Society and History,30(1),3-24.
2. Cheung, Sidney C.H.(ed.),Tan, Chee Bing(ed.)(2007).Food and Foodways in Asia: Resource, Tradition and Cooking.Abingdon:Routledge.
3. Dunlop, Fuchsia(2008).Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-sour Memoir of Eating in China.London:Ebury Press.
4. Goodman, David S.G.(ed.)(2008).The New Rich in China: Future Rulers, Present Lives.Abingdon:Routledge.
5. Jaffrelot, Christophe(ed.),van der Veer, Peter(ed.)(2008).Patterns of Middle Class Consumption in India and China.New Delhi:Sage.
6. Jing, Jun(ed.)(2000).Feeding China's Little Emperors: Food, Children, and Social Change.Stanford:Stanford University Press.
7. Klein, Jakob(2007).Redefining Cantonese Cuisine in Post-Mao Guangzhou.Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies,70(3)
8. Kraus, Richard(1989).Pianos and Politics in China: Middle-Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music.Oxford:Oxford University Press.
9. Latham, Kevin(ed.),Thompson, Stuart(ed.),Klein, Jakob(ed.)(2006).Consuming China. Approaches to Cultural Change in Contemporary China.London:Routledge.
10. Li, Hongkun(2008).Shi Zai Zhongguo: Zhongguo Ren Yinshi Shenghuo Da Shiye.Jinan:Shandong Huabao Chubanshe.
11. Rofel, Lisa(2007).Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture.Durham, N.C.:Duke University Press.
12. Short, Frances(2006).Kitchen Secrets: The Meaning of Cooking in Everyday Life.Oxford:Berg.
13. Swislocki, Mark(2009).Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai.Stanford:Stanford University Press.
14. Tomba, Luigi(2004).Creating an Urban Middle Class: Social Engineering in Beijing.The China Journal,51,1-25.
15. Wang, Xiaoling(ed.)(2006).Shi Zai Guangzhou: Lingnan Yinshi Wenhua Jingdian.Guangzhou:Guangzhou Luyou Chubanshe.
16. West, Harry(ed.),Raman, Paru(ed.)(2008).Enduring Socialism: Explorations of Revolution and Transformation, Restoration and Continuation.Oxford:Berghahn.
17. Wu, David Y.H.(ed.),Cheung, Sidney C.H.(ed.)(2002).The Globalization of Chinese Food.Honolulu:University of Hawaii Press.
18. Zhang, Li(ed.),Ong, Aihwa(ed.)(2008).Privatizing China, Socialism from Afar.Ithaca:Cornell University Press.