A story of food and place: constructing Chinese identities in a multicultural Malaysian society

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to comprehend how the descendants of Chinese immigrants construct their identities in a multicultural Malaysian society by exploring food culture and its interactions with place. It analyses food, place and identity to elucidate how the Malaysian Chinese community, an integral part of the nation, form and reform their identities via mixing and negotiating with other ethnicities and races, spatially and temporally, in searching for meaningful connections of their life. Forty-seven documents were collected and analysed, resulting in the discovery of 31 food-place-related concepts integrated into 13 sub-dimensions under six dimensions. Two themes emerged: theme one encompassed interactions between food and place, including ‘visual attributes, functionality, and meaning transmission’, while theme two concerned hybridity, incorporating ‘evolution/process, identities, and well-being’. A framework was constructed to illustrate the process through which identities were shaped and reshaped in association with well-being. The process of seeking meaningful connections generates multiple identities for the Malaysian Chinese that are closely linked to their well-being.