"Homestyle" Away from Home: Representations of South Asian Foodways in the Diaspora

• In Event: Hopes from the Homeland: Foodways in Motion in Asian Diasporas

Abstract

In this paper, I examine ethnic food-vending activities of South Asian immigrant communities in the New York area as an example of the ways in which these kinds of businesses constitute a type of public “representation” of the culture of South Asia. Going beyond the monolithic meme of Indian culture in the diaspora, I focus on the often over-looked diasporas from other South Asian countries. I explore how Sri Lankan, Indo-Caribbean and Nepali communities depict and portray their memories and identities of homeland through food imageries they generate to fit the cosmopolitan nature of different consumer groups. They all deploy descriptions and images that illustrate evolving marketing strategies and selections of food, targeted to South Asian and non-South Asian urban consumers of different demographic backgrounds, generations, and diasporic experiences. Themes of what is "cool", "sophisticated", "authentic", "healthy/organic/pure", "nostalgic" and other explicit or implicit descriptors highlight the role of food in defining who the consumer is, just as much as markers of ethnic, linguistic, sub-regional, and religious affiliations do.

The types of food selling operations included in this study are restaurants, food carts and “ethnic groceries” in the New York area. I adduce several specific types of documentation that would be needed to enable systematic research along these lines: for example, menus, oral-histories of owners, etc. The idea would be to define the outlines of an archive that would enable researchers to discern trends in the demographics of target markets, and in how elements of “South Asian-ness” are depicted and tailored.

Author

• Aruna P. Magier, New York University