Food and Immigrant Families - PDF

“I HAVEN’T EATEN IF I DON’T HAVE MY SOUP AND FUFU”: CULTURAL PRESERVATION THROUGH FOOD AND FOODWAYS AMONG GHANAIAN MIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES Psyche Williams-Forson (2019)  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Food is more than subsistence, food has psychological associations with...

“I HAVEN’T EATEN IF I DON’T HAVE MY SOUP AND FUFU”: CULTURAL PRESERVATION THROUGH FOOD AND FOODWAYS AMONG GHANAIAN MIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES Psyche Williams-Forson (2019)  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Food is more than subsistence, food has psychological associations with identity, place, family and community: The role of food in cultural transmission, belonging, homemaking and survival Food customs are carriers of identity, memory and tradition What familar foods and their smells provoke familial strong emotions and desires for you? Are there any food smells while you are at BU that provoke feelings of family and home? Now imagine you live in another country one day with your family, what will food mean to you: Acculturation, assimilation, adaptation How will you connect with home and create home in a new society using food? What will be available to you to sustain your family traditions and culture? Who in the family will be doing the food prep and cultural preservation-women or men?  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Williams-Forson explores the ways West Africans from Ghana negotiate their surroundings, and migrant identities, when looking for African foods in the US. Argument: cultural sustainability is attainable in the US as a result of ethnic markets, gardens, and other food centers, (ethnic restaurants, women’s kitchens) that serve as conduits between home and the host country Cultural sustainability, family preservation, gender and consumption (women’s positions), space and place Foodscapes: the spaces defined by the interactions of geography, environments, ethnicity, economic status, gender, social organization, and other cultural practices like dress, religion and language. Dynamic environments. They involve the preparation, presentation and eating of food. Food or culinary scapes intermingle the body with society and culture, nature and the world at large  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Theoretical context: Sustainability = living today in a way that ensures a planet for future generations 3 pillars of sustainability = social equity among people, taking care of the environment and, economics or what we do with profits A fourth pillar to measure the global impact of our preservation activities and efforts is culture and food Cultural sustainability = the means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual existence If its through culture then, we refer to modes of life, traditions, beliefs, so food is part of this Food is about rituals and customs, marker of personal and cultural identities Food is not just about what we eat to keep us alive, but how we eat which is symbolic for what is conveyed to others about us  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Food and immigrant families: What does food and food customs (food ways) convey about racial and ethnic families? Transnational migrants and their food rituals and practices to consider the diasporic community’s efforts to sustain themselves in a host country Cookbooks, memoirs, ethnic markets, gardens and ethnic restaurants to explore the transnational flows of goods and food, Gender connections to maintaining their family foodways – women as caregivers, food providers and transmitters of cultural knowledge Global systems of production, distribution and consumption The role of space and place in the Ghanaian immigrants’ efforts to preserve their culture through food Food plays an important role in identification, place-making and agency building  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Voluntary Migration to the US and Adapting to a New Life: Who are the transmigrant families and why Langley Park Maryland? A culturally diverse and changing population Langley Park foodscape has a lot of international restaurants and multinational markets that cater to diverse customers What identifiable foods are common to the many ethnic families that live here so they are able to develop “tastes from home”? What does shopping at the Red Maple Market mean to the transmigrants? How does the market help them develop a sense of home and belonging in the US? How are regional differences among the immigrant families shaped by the sharing of food bought at the ethnic market? Are cultural differences among them maintained or is reinvention of food traditions inevitable?  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Reproducing Ghana’s culinary landscape: How are tastes reproduced in the US when foodscapes are changing in Ghana? Mary’s observations Both at home and in the US, regional variations, tastes, income, education, convenience, and levels of acculturation influence dietary practices There is one basis format of a Ghana meal however Even with the basic format, their immigration experiences force them to create a Ghanaian identity different from the one back home Explain? They can’t replicate from back home, what are the factors for the changing food habits? Food serves to communicate: I eat healthy like you I am different from you  IMMIGRANTS FAMILIES AND FOOD Earth Matters: Gardens in a pot: Why did some study participants grow their own foods Why did others choose to shop at ethnic markets or Walmart? John misses Ga kenkey so where does he go? Ethnic restaurants – what role do they play for immigrant families and their foodways in their host country? John and the author’s husband prefer to go see “the lady who makes waakye” The Ghanaian lady who makes waakye: Who is she and to what does she belong? Part of the foodscapes for the Ghanaian families  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD The author’s cross-cultural marriage to a Ghanaian man Their negotiation of the ways in which meals are handled Her Southernness versus his preference for komi ke kenkey and banku What does their Sunday trip to the ethnic market look like? Crab cakes versus waakye? What happens? These differences point to the importance of the deep associations between food and homeland imaginary and the gendered politics of food There is still no place like home: Migrants leave home but food will always trigger memories of home and a longing to return home Food is not just for nourishment in a new home, but also provides emotional and psychological well-being  IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND FOOD Conclusion: There are 4 pillars of sustainability The 4th pillar, cultural sustainability is a lens to study ethnic foodscapes and the importance of food practices, customs and habits that can be maintained across borders through food preparations, production and eating, immigrants maintain their identities by invoking home through familiar tastes and smells of food while developing a sense of place in their host country.