Little but Sustainable: Wine, Drinking Culture, and Negotiation of Value in Taiwan

Abstract

This study examines how foreign-imported wine culture has transformed and maintained social sustainability from diverse dimensions in Taiwan. Wine culture has become popular around the world, yet it has various developments in different areas. As a country without a wine tradition and small wine consumption, the development of wine culture in Taiwan is significant in the study of the globalization of wine. This paper is based on qualitative fieldwork from 2017 to 2021 in Taiwan, including in-depth interviews with several focus groups and individuals, as well as participatory observations. This research has two major results, focusing on wine symbolism and the transformation of social meanings of drinking. Wine symbolism relates to the emphasis of “elegance” and the reframed concepts that connect wine with traditional food systems. The second finding elaborates the transformation of social meanings: wine has become an accessible luxury; wine helps to reduce the pressure of alcohol consumption; wine helps women to recreate a safer drinking social space. Taiwanese wine culture provides good examples to rethink the complexity and dynamics in socio-cultural matters, as well as the sustainability of food culture and the food system.