Forest feast
In the EFFEC’s permanent exhibition, entitled “Original Mountain Feast,” the first of the plants commonly used by indigenous peoples that visitors learn about is the Formosan nato tree (Palaquium formosanum). It was frequently used by the Tao people of Orchid Island to build their fishing boats, and from this we know that in the past Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were skilled in boat building and navigation. However, at present none of Taiwan’s other indigenous peoples apart from the Tao take boats out onto the ocean; instead they have become mountain forest dwellers.
Before the appearance in Taiwan of spring onions, ginger, and garlic, indigenous peoples were already using native spices in their cuisine. For example, mountain pepper (Litsea cubeba) could be used to marinate meat, to make soup, or to remove unpleasant odors from foods. Taiwan cinnamon (Cinnamomum insularimontanum) was mostly used to add flavor to foods, but was also a natural preservative. Meanwhile, the Thao people used ailanthus prickly ash (Zanthoxylum ailanthoides) to marinate meat or to make chicken soup. Other common dietary ingredients included cassava (Manihot esculenta), which could be cooked and eaten directly or crushed into a powder to be shaped into dumplings, as well as pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), which are rich in protein. Although the pigeon pea was only introduced under Japanese rule, it became naturalized as a common crop in indigenous communities.
In each indigenous community there were curative recipes to treat illnesses and injuries, which were passed down by oral tradition. During the Japanese era, Kinji Yamada did field research and collected specimens, to produce the first-ever monograph on the medicinal plants of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. The book recorded the plants’ scientific names and how they were used, arranged according to the parts of the body and illnesses that they treated.
Some plants used to ward off evil do in fact have therapeutic effects. For example, the Bunun make necklaces for children using the rhizome of grassy-leaved sweet flag (Acorus gramineus) together with beads made from Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), to symbolize their wishes for the children’s wellbeing, and indeed grassy-leaved sweet flag does have the effect of relieving stress and calming the mind. Meanwhile, the chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata), used by the Bunun for medicinal purposes, is an ingredient in a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, NRICM 101, that is said to reduce the severity of Covid-19.
In order to preserve indigenous peoples’ abundant knowledge of medicinal plants, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has produced a book called Compendium of Medicinal Plants Used by the Indigenous People of Taiwan. They even put out an English-language edition so that more people can learn about indigenous peoples’ medical wisdom.
Mountain pepper is used by indigenous peoples for marinating meat and as a flavoring in soups, and in recent years it has even become an ingredient used by chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants.
The traditional Paiwan food cinavu is made by wrapping millet and pork in leaves of Trichodesma calycosum.
Indigenous peoples are reclaiming their traditional culture by renewing the cultivation of millet. (photo by Jimmy Lin)