Indigenous note - The Forgotten Oil Millet of Taiwan

 

Taro ball with 'oil millet' coating on 'South Asian' taro 南洋芋 leaf



(This entry is 'Note 22' of the main Anthropology page HERE)

'Formosan Beard Grass 台灣油芒' - 'Millet of the Future

'The Forgotten Oil Millet of Taiwan' was discovered by Dorian Fuller (UCL Institute of Archaeology) before a follow-up rediscovery in Pingtung by Academia Sinica researchers.

It is now known as 'Formosan Beard Grass 台灣油芒'. It grows all year round, and now promoted a good substitute for the traditional millet (foxtail), it was said.
 
'Lalumaj' is its Rukai name and 'Ljumay' Paiwan's. Austronesian linguistic connection was done by a research team led by Laurent Sagart.
 
I recently became acquainted with this forgotten and magical grain because of some creative dishes served by Bunan peoples in Taitung.
 
The best way to promote a grain /crop is to develop recipes, cook and serve.  Check it out when in Taitung.
 
Exhibition at 'National Taiwan University' showcase a variety of common 'Bunan beans' 布農豆豆 including those in glass bottles commonly used to make wine.
 
Tina 迪娜 (Bunan word for female elders) take it an important task keeping their hundred- year beans heritage passed on and long last.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mongolian BBQ History Taiwan - Created by a Chinese Comedian 1951

Image
Photo Update (June 10 2020)  Source - 'Remembering Taiwan' Facebook Group Mongolian BBQ mobile vendors in the late 1950s on the east bank of Tamsui River  Credit to Mr A Zoraster who stationed at Taipei Air Station from Aug 64 until Dec 66  Credit to Mr A Zoraster who stationed at Taipei Air Station from Aug 64 until Dec 66  “In Mongolia, you won’t find Mongolian Barbeque.   But, you do in Taiwan.   It’s just as you won’t find Fuzhou Noodle in Fuzhou.   But, you do in Taiwan.   Neither would you find Sichuan Braised Beef Noodle Soup in Sichuan.   Again, you do in Taiwan.   They are created by Taiwanese food industry to reflect the chefs’ imaginations of the regions and creativities.” In my forthcoming book with Steven Crook “The Culinary History of Taipei” Chapter 6: Supplying the Consumer (Taipei’s Markets) . We included an anecdote of Mongolian BBQ mobile vendors in the late 1950s on the east bank of Tamsui River : “…… and that cooked in the op
Read more

Sweet thirty hour stay - Taitung

Image
1. Our host  Aeles (tears in the Rukai language) at her restaurant Dawana ( a place of rest) 2. Buddha's head (fruit) in a bowl bought from a Paiwan wood-craftsman  3. The wood artist's most famous work - lily (flower) 4. Green Island on the horizon 5. Taiwan red quinoa  6. Ancient 'hot stone technique‘ soup My original plan was to go to Miaoli for a vegetable dyeing and weaving workshop with 林淑莉 Lin Shu-li a Taiwanese married into Atayal family and who demonstrated her skill in London in 2018. The workshop was closed until further notice. I therefore contacted Lily Wen (or Aeles Lrawbalrate in Rukai and 溫秀琴 in Mandarin) in Taitung if I could pay a long overdue visit - cancelled two years ago by typhoon. She readily welcomed and there I went with a friend. (Note -  For the Paiwan and Rukai peoples, lilies signify virtue and beauty in women as well as bravery and hunting power in men) We were greeted by a local friend and taken to
Read more

Saartje Specx (17th Century Dutch-Japanese, Famous Prisoner Batavia, Wife of First Missionary Fromosa) and Her Grave by Pineapple Stretch

Image
Terrence Ying-Tai Lai  賴英泰 in a recent talk I attended mentioned 'Sara's Grave 莎拉之墓' in Tainan.  Saartje Specx story, unknown to many including myself, is most fascinating.  A 17th-century watercolor drawing of the Dutch East India Company’s Fort Zeelandia, present-day Tainan, taken from the Eugenius-atlas, which was commissioned by Laurens van der Hem, a Dutch lawyer and map collector. (Wikipedia) Saartje's grave in green circle.  Pineapple stretch, women prison, graveyard, Amsterdam (a farm) clearly labelled. (Terrence Ying-Tai Lai  賴英泰 talk at Linking Publishing    聯經書房) Page one of a piece I found online. Saartje Specx (1617–1636) was the daughter of Jacques Specx, governor of the North Quarter of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC's) Asian trading empire, and a Japanese concubine. Saartje (Sara in English) was born at the Dutch trading base on the island of Hirado. In 1629, aged 12, she was living at Batavia in Java under the protection of Jan Coen, gov
Read more