Austronesian Coffee

「A university café featuring “anthropology of food”」

Austronesian Coffee is managed by Lily, who comes from Taromak village of Rukai tribe in Taitung. Serving food with macaranga leaves at the bottom of the plate, she tells different stories about Austronesian culture in Taiwan with the dishes she prepares. Located in the campus of National Taitung University, the café is a venue where the students can access tribal food culture with food. The restaurant run by Lily has been relocated a couple of times, just like history of people in Taromak tribal village. The experience of “migration” has made Lily stronger and more determined to tell stories of aboriginal tribes with her food, including smoked meat, which is an important part of aboriginal hunting culture. In the past, aboriginal hunters would smoke the meat of their prey for dehydration in order to reduce the weight, which made it easier for them to carry the meat as they went down the mountain to share it with their people. Lily uses betel pepper leaves, which have a distinctive flavor of plants in the pepper family, to make dumplings, instead of wrapping betel nuts. She also makes desserts with dregs of millet wine, which is a creative practice of reducing food waste. Although Lily is already a walking encyclopedia of tribal culture in Taiwan, she is still constantly learning new knowledge and is now studying for her PhD in food anthropology. As a fluent English speaker, she has actively participated in international events for tribal food and told stories about the history of Austronesian culture in Taiwan to the rest of the world.