Food in the British immigrant experience

Abstract

The relationship between migration and food is one that takes many forms. For the migrant in Britain food has played a much greater role than simply providing nourishment on a regular basis. This article illustrates the way in which, for migrants, food has contributed to the construction and perception of outsider identity; how it has been used as a weapon by the racist and xenophobic, yet for other incomers has been the source of entrepreneurial wealth. In addition it highlights the way in which food has contributed to cultural fusion and cultural separation as well as to religious tolerance and antipathy.