THE TASTE OF HOME: THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH COMMENSALITY AMONGST FEMALE MALAY STUDENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Background and Purpose: Commensality is an act of eating together among migrant communities as a means of passing down the culture and ethnic identity. There is very limited discussion on commensality that pays attention to food sharing and eating that extends beyond the traditional forms of social relationships, identity, and space among the Malay community abroad. Thus, this article aims to explore the connections of social relationships through food, space and identity amongst female Malay students in the United Kingdom. Methodology: This research is based on one-year ethnographic fieldwork amongst female Malaysian Muslim students in Manchester and Cardiff. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with both undergraduate and postgraduate students from sciences and social sciences courses. Besides, in-depth interviews, participant observation, conversation and fieldnotes methods were deployed as supplementary for data collection. Findings: This paper argues that cooking and eating together in a private space is a way for them to maintain social relationships and overcome stress in their studies, and fulfil their desire to create harmony and trust at home. Besides, places such as the kitchen, play an essential space in building the Malay identity and social relationships between female Malay students’ communities in the host country. Contributions: This study has contributed to an understanding of the meaning of friendship, identity, space, and the discussion on the anthropology of food from international students’ perspectives and migration studies. Keywords: Food and identity, commensality, Malay students, friendship, international students. Cite as: Ibnu, I. N. (2022). The taste of home: The construction of social relationships through commensality amongst female Malay students in the United Kingdom. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(1), 316-334. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss1pp316-334

Nourishing place? : immigrant children's "ethnic food" experiences

This study explores the relationship between food and identity in a sample of ethnically diverse 1.5 and second generation Canadians residing in Toronto. The primary question of this research is what challenges do immigrant children face around "ethnic food" in the home and school settings and how do they affect immigrant children's ethnic identity as adults. This paper is an extension of a study by Lessa and Rocha (2007) that examined how food mediates the processes of settlement and new identity formation in newly immigrated women to Toronto. I applied the authors' thematic analysis to the data from this study to compare the similarities and differences of experiences with "ethnic food" between immigrant women and immigrant children. Food studies provide a window into the lives of immigrant children who experience othering processes in mainstream Canadian society and occupy a difficult space in between the dominant and their parents' cultures.

Nourishing place? : immigrant children's "ethnic food" experiences

This study explores the relationship between food and identity in a sample of ethnically diverse 1.5 and second generation Canadians residing in Toronto. The primary question of this research is what challenges do immigrant children face around "ethnic food" in the home and school settings and how do they affect immigrant children's ethnic identity as adults. This paper is an extension of a study by Lessa and Rocha (2007) that examined how food mediates the processes of settlement and new identity formation in newly immigrated women to Toronto. I applied the authors' thematic analysis to the data from this study to compare the similarities and differences of experiences with "ethnic food" between immigrant women and immigrant children. Food studies provide a window into the lives of immigrant children who experience othering processes in mainstream Canadian society and occupy a difficult space in between the dominant and their parents' cultures.

Eating (with) the Other

This article aims to describe and theorize the role of food television in cultivating popular understandings of the relationship between food and race. Although there is burgeoning research on representations of food and identity, scholars have devoted much less attention to representations of race in food-related television programming. This article highlights the necessity of doing so through a comparative examination of shows that aim to expose viewers to racial and ethnic communities through their foodways. We ask to what extent these shows deliver contact across racial difference in hierarchical and egalitarian ways. We found that these shows convey manifestations of “eating with the Other” by providing viewers with a warm and respectful entrée into the everyday realities of racial, ethnic, and immigrant communities. Simultaneously, the shows embody bell hooks’s notion of “eating the Other,” as they commodify the experiences of marginalized communities for the vicarious pleasures of their viewers, and gloss over larger social, political, and economic inequalities. This article offers insights into the ways in which contemporary food television is dealing with issues of ethno-racial differences and inequalities, and discusses the potential of this medium to act as a form of critical intervention.

Chapter 7 - “Home and away” – narratives of food and identity in the context of urbanization in Malaysia

In this study, we use food as a lens to explore the impact of the rural-urban migration on the sense of identity among single, male Malaysians who migrated to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur for work in the 1980s. Following Tibère (2015), we explore the ways the increasing contact between diverse ethnic groups in the cities has contributed to the emergence of innovative ways of regulating multicultural co-habitation through commensality. We conclude that the longing for local and ‘authentic’ foods coexist with the desire among urban residents for hybrid national cultures and transcultural foodscapes.

Вкус Европы. Антропологическое исследование культуры питания: Коллективная монография

В фокусе внимания творческого коллектива, объединившего сотрудников Центра европейских исследований Института этнологии и антропологии им. Н. Н. Миклухо- Маклая РАН, Отдела европеистики Музея антропологии и этнографии им. Петра Великого (Кунсткамера) РАН, а также нескольких приглашенных ученых, находится широкий диапазон проблем, связанных с культурой питания и пищевыми практиками европейцев. Исследование, выполненное с позиций социальной антропологии, построено на полевых материалах авторов, архивных и других источниках. При изучении социокультурной роли европейской пищи акцент делается на следующих вопросах: алиментарные практики и истоки традиции, пища и идентичность, система питания и социальность, кухня и гендер, еда как символ и политический инструмент, вкус в культурах, национальная кухня и аутентичные рецепты, трапеза, этикет и обряд. Книга состоит из пяти разделов, поделенных на 16 глав, отличающихся тематикой исследуемых сюжетов, рассматриваемых на материалах конкретного региона, народа или пищевого феномена. Монография представляет интерес для специалистов и широкого круга читателей. The members of the team, which includes researchers coming from the Center for European Studies of the N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Europe of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the RAS, aswell as a number of invited scholars, focused their attention on a broad range of problems related to the Europeans’ food culture and eating habits. The socio-anthropological research is drawing upon the field data collected by the authors, archival and historiographical material, and other kinds of sources. While studying the sociocultural role of food in Europe, special emphasis is given to alimentary practices and sources of the tradition, food and identity, system of nutrition and sociality, cuisine and gender, food as a symbol and a political instrument, taste in cultures, ethnic cuisine and authentic receipts, and meal, etiquette and ritual. The book consists of five parts divided into 16 chapters, each dedicated to its own subject-matter illustrated with examples from a given region, ethnic group, or food-related phenomenon. The monography might be of interest to specialists and also appeal to a large audience.

Reciprocal relationships: identity, tradition and food in the Kīngitanga Poukai He Manaakitanga: o te tuakiri, o te tikanga me te kai ki te Poukai o te Kīngitanga

He kūaha whānui e pūare ana ki te puna kai, ki te puna tangata. (Tāwhiao 1894)‘A doorway opened wide to the bounty of foods, to the multitudes of people.’In 1884, the Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement) instituted its first punakai (uniting of food sources) to feed its people. At that time the country was ravaged by warfare, which rendered access to prime food and water scarce to followers of the Kīngitanga. King Tāwhiao, the second Māori King, established the punakai to feed the widowed, the orphaned, and the destitute, and all who mourned the loss of loved ones in the war. Later re-named poukai, this institution continues to this day. A series of annual gatherings take place at Kīngitanga marae, the gathering places of the extended family who belong to that place, and who are responsible for each poukai. Marae pool their food resources to host the Māori King and his family, and to feed the people. The poukai is now an institution in itself with food at its very centre. We provide examples of traditional pre-European foods, as well as foods introduced after the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand. We discuss the relationships between the poukai, food and identity, and identify some of the issues that poukai marae face, as well as events and trends that have impacted and caused change. In Māori culture, mana recognises the reciprocal relationships between people, and between people and place, asserting that each has a responsibility to each other. Control over resources, and provision of traditional foods at events such as the poukai, is essential to the mana of Māori. We discuss the cultural value that marae place on their kai and how these cultural values are impacted by change. Finally, we comment on the sustainability of these poukai, and how the poukai connect to a continuing vision of revitalisation and self-determination for Tainui.