How is 好き used in "僕が好きなのは "

Question

I was reading an example sentence:

僕が好きなのは日本料理ではなくタイ料理だ

Here, I understand that 僕 is the subject in the first part of the sentence 僕が好きなのは. But as I understand the sentence as a whole, it means that:

I like not Japanese dishes but Thai dishes.

But 好き describes the subject as the one being liked. 僕 is not the one we like, right?

Is it correct to say that 僕が好きなのは日本料理ではなくタイ料理だ can also be written:

僕が好きな料理は日本料理ではなくタイ料理だ?

What verb is then 僕 the subject for?

Answer 1

But 好き describes the subject as the one being liked. 僕 is not the one we like, right?

In main clauses, yes, this is true. In "AはBが好きだ", B is the one being liked. However, in relative clauses, you cannot use は, and both A and B can be marked with が:

• AはBが好きだ。
  A likes B. (literally: As for A, B is a favorite).
• ____Bが好きなA
  A who likes B
  _{(A has been pulled out)}
• Aが____好きなB
  B which A likes
  _{(B has been pulled out, and Aは has been changed to Aが)}

See my previous answers, too:

• Relative Clause Ambiguous
• が in subordinate clauses

Your sentence is a cleft sentence, which involves a type of relative clause before the の. This means 僕が好きなのはXだ is indeed an ambiguous sentence that can technically mean either of the following:

• The thing I like is X. / It's X that I like.
• The one who likes me is X. / It's X who likes me.

In your sentence, X corresponds to 日本料理ではなくタイ料理 ("not Japanese dishes but Thai dishes"), which never loves a person. So the only possible interpretation is the former.

Practically speaking, in more than 90% of the time, 僕が好きなのはXだ should mean "It's X that I like". But in the following context, 僕が好きなのはXだ clearly means "It's X who like(s) me".

この4人の女の子は、みんな太郎と僕のどちらかのことが好きだ。太郎のことが好きなのはAさんとBさんで、僕が好きなのはCさんとDさんだ。
All these four girls like either Taro or me. It's A and B who like Taro, and it's C and D who like me.

Answer 2

僕がすきなのは is the な form of です, modifying の which is a noun that stands in for the 料理... 僕が is the subject of すきです.

The thing that I like. The one that I like.

"The food that I like is Thai, not Japanese."

You could say.. "It is Thai food that I like, not Japanese (food)."

If it were 僕がすきな料理は then it is still the subject of すきな. "The cooking that I like."