Food as a social weapon: Peruvian immigrant entrepreneurs claiming home, belonging, and distinction in Southern California

Abstract

ABSTRACT Peruvian immigrants in Southern California encounter a complex context of reception in which xenophobic portrayals of Latinxs exist alongside positive discourses on immigration. Simultaneously, the Peruvian gastronomic boom has reached the Golden State, where foodies’ celebration of Peruvian cuisine creates a favourable opportunity structure for Peruvian immigrant entrepreneurs. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and life history interviews with 35 Peruvian women culinary entrepreneurs in and around Los Angeles, the article argues that these entrepreneurs capitalize on the positive food discourses surrounding Peruvian gastronomy to contest stigmas of an ascribed Latinx identity. Food becomes a powerful weapon to negotiate a position within racial/ethnic hierarchies. By showing that culinary businesses constitute a unique space where these complex processes play out, the paper expands the economic focus in the ethnic entrepreneurship literature and provides knowledge on how immigrants’ economic agency is embedded in broader social processes, such as their search for home and belonging.