Distinction, Disdain, and Gentrification: Hipsters, Food People, and the Ethnic Other in Brooklyn, New York

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the recent culinary renaissance in the New York City (NYC) borough of Brooklyn, using the borough as a lens for exploring connections between food, place, and identity. It argues that specific Brooklyn neighborhoods have become contested spaces where different groups compete for status through their food practices. The first part of the chapter teases out the similarities and differences between hipsters and food people as each group vies for literal and imagined space within this changing Brooklyn landscape. Then, the chapter considers the impact of this influx of hipsters and food people on the ethnic, immigrant communities that have sustained many of these Brooklyn neighborhoods for generations. The overarching goal of the chapter is to better understand the social, political, and ideological power of food and foodways in a particular geographical and ideological space, Brooklyn.