《「台湾菜」の文化史 ：国民料理の創造と変遷》(A Cultural History of Taiwanese Cuisine: National Embodiment in Food Consumption) sponsored by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and the Hou Family Foundation won Japan’s "Shizuo Tsuji Food Culture Award"

Professor Yu-jen Chen’s book,《「台湾菜」の文化史 ：国民料理の創造と変遷》, which was curated into the “Taiwan Studies Series” by the Foundation’s Inter-University Center for Sinology and was sponsored by both the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and the Hou Family Foundation, was awarded the Shizuo Tsuji Food Culture Award in Japan, and Professor Chen was invited to receive the award in Tokyo on August 19, 2025.

The Shizuo Tsuji Food Culture Award was established by the Shizuo Tsuji Food Culture Foundation in Japan in 2010 to encourage education and research in the field of gastronomy, this year marks its 16th anniversary. Professor Chen is the first foreign researcher to receive this prestigious award, and her book is the first translated work to be honored in the history of this prize. The selection committee praised the book for its vivid depiction of how changes in political regimes over the past century have been reflected in Taiwanese cuisine, and the book also offers a comprehensive analysis of the influence of politics, culture, and various ethnic groups and classes of people on Taiwanese cuisine, making it an excellent work that provides a deep understanding of modern Taiwanese history.

Professor Chen currently affiliates with the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature at National Taiwan Normal University. Her research focuses on anthropology of food, Taiwan modern food and meal history, media and consumer society. A former recipient of the Foundation’s Dissertation Fellowships for ROC Students Abroad in the European Region, this award not only recognizes Professor Chen’s academic accomplishment, but also brings Taiwanese food culture into the international spotlight.

▲Professor Yu-jen Chen (second from right) at the award ceremony in Tokyo