“Meagre hospitality”. Experiences with food among asylum seekers living in Norwegian reception centres

Abstract

Food is a powerful form of communication: our attitudes and food related practices can be regarded as a window into our most basic beliefs about the world, ourselves, and others. Knowledge about food consumption and how food can contribute to our understanding of the social position of asylum seekers is limited. The aim of this study is to describe food experiences among asylum seekers residing in Norwegian reception centres to gain a deeper understanding of how food can shape forms of hospitality (or inhospitality) in the country of arrival. Data were gathered in five Norwegian reception centres through participant observation and qualitative interviews. The reception centres included in the study are as follows: one arrival centre, one transit centre, two ordinary reception centres, and one centre for unaccompanied minors. The findings from our study indicate that food is an important lens through which we can explore how different forms of hospitality are performed in Norwegian asylum centres. Upon their arrival, asylum seekers receive low quality and unfamiliar foods, kitchen facilities offer limited opportunities for cooking meals, and shopping for food is a challenge for many reasons: limited economic resources, long distances to stores, and for some, unfamiliarity with the Norwegian grocery shops. Meals, both those prepared by the asylum seekers themselves and those provided by the centres, often have very little variation and inadequate nutritional value. Food at asylum reception centres has an important role in producing and maintaining the condition of precariousness of asylum seekers and contributes to the creation of a “meagre” hospitality.