Swiftlets and Capital: A Transnational History of Edible Birds' Nests, 1600-1900

FAIN: FT-290930-23

Meng Zhang
Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN 37203-2416)

Research and writing leading to a book on the history of the trade in edible birds’ nests in China, focusing on the spread of consumer tastes and their consequences for the environment.

Edible birds’ nests, made from the hardened saliva of a rare species of cave-nesting swiftlets in Southeast Asia, rank among the top of the list of luxurious Chinese delicacies. Contrary to its popular image as an “ancient” ingredient in Chinese medicine, edible birds’ nests only entered China as an exotic edible in the late sixteenth century. From the early modern period to this day, the demand for this delicacy by elite Chinese consumers spurred a trade network that bridged the China Sea and brought transformations to the life and the environment of humans and swiftlets. By examining the knowledge-making, circulation, and consumption of edible birds’ nests, this project engages with transnational dynamics of value creation and accumulation as well as long-term interactions between human institutions and the environment. It brings together histories of medicine, material culture, the environment, and trade diaspora to trace the social life of edible birds’ nests over three centuries.