Food and the Habitus: Imaginary Homeland in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies

Abstract

This study explores the role of food as a cultural borderland in Jhumpa Lahiri’ s Interpreter of Maladies. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, it analyzes how food functions beyond mere sustenance to reflect the complex identities of Indian immigrants navigating between tradition and assimilation. Food serves as a semiotic tool, revealing cultural nostalgia and the "struggle of memory against forgetting," as Salman Rushdie describes. Through characters like Mrs. Sen, food is shown to embody class distinctions and national identity while highlighting ambivalent feelings toward cultural adaptation. The preparation and sharing of food emerge as powerful expressions of belonging, yet simultaneously underscore the alienation experienced in a foreign land. This project suggests that foodways in Lahiri’s stories not only mark ethnic and social identities but also act as a poignant symbol of immigrants' fragmented sense of home, underscoring both collective memories and personal struggles within their adopted communities. By situating food as a central theme, the study reveals its significance in shaping social interactions and sustaining an imagined homeland, bridging past and present, familiar and unfamiliar, within the immigrant experience.