一粒香料，如何穿越土地、语言与世代？ 一道菜，如何在迁徙与融合中反覆演绎？ 东南亚的饮食风味，不只是热带物产的自然馈赠，更是一种历史的发酵，与文化、人群的流动紧密相关。从殖民与贸易、族群迁徙到在地创意，辛香料总在不经意之间，记录着一地的气候、记忆与文化，也调和出丰富多变的风味组合。
《东南亚饮食香料学》是作者陈爱玲历时十七年、走访十一国的风味纪录，也是一场关于风味逻辑的文化解码。她从一道道经典菜肴出发，深入市场、厨房与乡间，梳理香料的组合方式与风味系统，带领我们从味觉进入一幅更广袤的风土地图。书中独创的〈辛香料风味图〉，搭配三十一种关键香料的整理与说明，试图描绘东南亚料理中复杂而有机的味觉结构，使本书成为料理人、研究者与饮食爱好者眼中兼具实作与思考深度的参考之作。
8月3日，我们将跟着陈爱玲走进厨房、走入市场与田野，一起理解料理如何与地方经验相互形塑，也思索味道如何在日常生活中被不断重组与延伸。媒体人张易雄将担任与谈人，从叙事与文化观察的角度切入，带领现场观众一同思考：除了食材与技法，我们如何阅读一地的饮食日常？
How can a single spice travel across lands, languages, and generations? How is a dish continuously reinterpreted through migration and cultural exchange? The flavours of Southeast Asian cuisine are more than just a natural bounty of the tropics—they represent a slow fermentation of history, deeply intertwined with cultural flows and the movement of people. From colonisation and trade to migration and local innovation, spices have quietly recorded the climate, memory, and culture of each place, blending into an ever-evolving spectrum of tastes.
Spiceology of Southeast Asia is the result of author Ai-Ling Tan’s seventeen-year journey across eleven countries—a remarkable culinary chronicle and a cultural decoding of flavour logic. Beginning with iconic regional dishes, she ventures into markets, kitchens, and rural communities to trace how spices are combined, interpreted, and understood. Her original "Spice Flavour Map", alongside detailed profiles of 31 key spices, offers a visual and structural guide to the complex, organic patterns that define Southeast Asian cuisine. This book serves as both a practical reference and a thoughtful resource for chefs, researchers, and food enthusiasts alike.
On 3 August, join Spices Tan as she shares insights from the kitchen, the market, and the field—exploring how food is shaped by local experience, and how flavour is continually reimagined in daily life. A guest commentator from the media field will join the conversation to offer additional perspectives on food, culture, and storytelling. Together, they will invite us to consider: beyond ingredients and techniques, how do we learn to read a place through its culinary traditions?