Food, Identity, and Cultural Reproduction in Immigrant Communities

Abstract

Immigrants cope with the dislocation and disorientation they experience in their new environment by re-creating a sense of place in their domestic environment around food production, preparation, and consumption. Cooking and other food-related practices play a crucial role as they negotiate their presence in post-industrial societies where individuals and groups define their identities around lifestyles and consumer goods. The exploration of personal, communal, collective, and institutional experiences will highlight the dynamics that underlie the development of culinary traditions among immigrants, and the role they play in the formation of their sense of community in specific places that are also integrated in transnational networks