Assignment paper no 205: Diaspora on the Plate: Food, Memory, and Identity in Migrant Narratives

  Assignment paper no 205: Diaspora on the Plate: Food, Memory, and Identity in Migrant Narratives

Personal Information:-

Name:- Bhumi Mahida
Batch:-  M.A. Sem 3 (2024-2026)
Enrollment Number:- 51082240017
E-mail Address:- bhumimahida385@gmail.com
Roll Number:- 2

Assignment Details:

Topic:-“Class, Ideology, and Alienation: A Marxist Reading of George Orwell’s 1984”
Paper & subject code:-Paper 204: Contemporary Western Theories and Film Studies
Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
Date of Submission:- 

Table of Contents :

Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Theoretical Framework: Food, Culture, and Identity
Food, Memory, and the Homeland
Hybridity and Reinvention: Negotiating Identity Through Food
Food, Gender, and Domestic Space
Food, Globalization, and Cultural Exchange
Food as Cultural Text: Reading Memory and Belonging
Conclusion

Abstract :

Food is one of the most potent signifiers of culture, functioning not only as nourishment but also as a marker of memory, belonging, and identity. Within diasporic contexts, food becomes a language of continuity, resistance, and adaptation — a sensory archive that carries the flavors of home into foreign lands. This paper examines how food operates as a cultural text in diasporic narratives, focusing on the works of Jhumpa Lahiri and Hanif Kureishi, and on selected films such as The Hundred-Foot Journey and Bend It Like Beckham. Drawing upon the theoretical insights of Stuart Hall, Avtar Brah, and Arjun Appadurai, the discussion situates food at the intersection of migration, globalization, and identity. The essay argues that the preparation, consumption, and negotiation of food in migrant spaces symbolize the ongoing tension between memory and modernity — between preserving the past and adapting to the demands of the host culture. Ultimately, food becomes a form of cultural storytelling through which diasporic subjects reclaim agency and reimagine the meaning of “home.”

Keywords: 

Diaspora
Food
Identity
Memory
Globalization
Hybridity
Cultural belonging

Introduction :

Food, in its most elemental sense, sustains life, but within the realm of cultural theory, it also sustains identity. It is both material and metaphorical — a repository of shared traditions, collective memory, and affective ties to the homeland. In diasporic settings, food takes on an even greater symbolic weight: it mediates between the familiar and the foreign, connecting the migrant subject to a lost geography while allowing for new hybrid forms of belonging. As Avtar Brah observes, the “diaspora space” is not merely a geographic displacement but a psychic and cultural negotiation, a site where “the native” and “the foreign” coexist in complex entanglement.

This paper explores the cultural and theoretical implications of food in diasporic identity formation. Through the frameworks of Stuart Hall’s notion of identity as a “production,” Brah’s concept of “diaspora space,” and Arjun Appadurai’s idea of global cultural flows, food will be examined as a language of both memory and reinvention. By analyzing the literary works of Jhumpa Lahiri and Hanif Kureishi, alongside cinematic representations such as The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) and Bend It Like Beckham (2002), this paper seeks to show how culinary practices become metaphors for negotiation, hybridity, and resistance within migrant narratives.

Theoretical Framework: Food, Culture, and Identity

Stuart Hall: Cultural Identity as Production :

In his seminal essay “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” Stuart Hall challenges essentialist notions of identity, proposing instead that identity is a matter of “becoming” as much as of “being” (Hall 225). For Hall, identity is not a fixed essence carried intact from the homeland; it is constructed through continuous cultural negotiation. Within diasporic contexts, food operates precisely within this dynamic — it is both a nostalgic link to origin and a mutable practice reshaped by new surroundings. For example, the act of cooking traditional dishes in a foreign environment often results in improvisations born of necessity, reflecting the hybrid nature of diasporic existence. Food, then, becomes a performance of identity, one that constantly evolves as migrants reconcile their inherited tastes with their contemporary realities.

Avtar Brah: Diaspora and Displacement :

Avtar Brah extends this argument through her concept of “diaspora space,” which describes the cultural intersections where different histories of displacement meet. For Brah, diaspora is not simply a movement of people but a “convergence of multiple subjectivities”. Food becomes a tangible manifestation of this convergence. In diaspora kitchens, ingredients and cooking methods intertwine across cultural boundaries, producing hybrid cuisines that embody the coexistence of multiple identities. The act of eating or sharing food in such spaces fosters a sense of belonging while also marking difference — a duality central to diasporic identity.

Arjun Appadurai: Globalization and Culinary Imagination :

Arjun Appadurai’s Modernity at Large introduces the concept of global “-scapes” — ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes — to describe the complex flows of people, media, and culture in the modern world. Food is a key element within these flows. As Appadurai argues, culinary practices travel and transform, shaping “global gastronomic imagination”. Migrants carry not only recipes but also the memories and meanings embedded in them. The global circulation of Indian, Chinese, or Caribbean cuisines thus reflects the migration of cultures themselves. Food in this sense becomes a transnational language that transcends borders yet retains traces of origin, embodying both continuity and change.

Food, Memory, and the Homeland :

Memory is central to the diasporic condition, and food serves as one of its most intimate triggers. The sensory experience of taste and smell often revives the memory of a lost home more vividly than language or landscape can. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, food functions as a vital link between generations. For Ashima, preparing Bengali snacks such as muri-mix in her American kitchen becomes an act of emotional survival — a way of preserving her identity amidst the alienating spaces of Massachusetts. Lahiri describes Ashima’s longing for home through her cooking: “Ashima has been preparing the snack for herself since she came to Cambridge”. The act of making and eating familiar food provides comfort but also highlights displacement — a bittersweet reminder that the homeland now exists only through memory and imagination.

Similarly, in Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri portrays food as a mode of cultural translation. In “Mrs. Sen’s,” the protagonist’s meticulous preparation of fish and vegetables from Calcutta becomes an act of reclaiming selfhood in an alien culture. Her kitchen becomes both a site of nostalgia and confinement, where the rhythms of chopping and frying are rituals of remembrance. The smell of mustard oil — a recurring motif — represents the persistence of cultural identity that refuses assimilation. Lahiri’s diasporic characters thus express their belonging through culinary practices, translating memory into the language of taste.

Hybridity and Reinvention: Negotiating Identity Through Food :

While food preserves memory, it also adapts to new cultural realities, embodying what Homi Bhabha calls “hybridity” — the merging of cultural elements into new, syncretic forms. Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia exemplifies this negotiation of identity. Karim, the Anglo-Indian protagonist, navigates the cultural contradictions of being “a new breed” — neither entirely British nor fully Indian. Food in Kureishi’s novel symbolizes this hybrid position. The family’s meals blend British convenience food with Indian spices, mirroring their layered identities. The kitchen becomes a microcosm of postcolonial Britain, where curry coexists with chips, and authenticity is always in flux.

Kureishi also uses food as a tool for satire. When British characters embrace curry as a marker of cosmopolitan sophistication, the novel exposes how “ethnic” food is commodified and consumed without understanding its cultural significance. This aligns with bell hooks’s critique of “eating the Other,” where dominant cultures consume difference as exotic pleasure while ignoring its political roots. Thus, food in The Buddha of Suburbia reflects not only personal identity but also the politics of representation and cultural appropriation.

In filmic representations, The Hundred-Foot Journey dramatizes hybridity through the rivalry and eventual reconciliation between an Indian restaurant and a French one. The protagonist Hassan’s culinary journey — from cooking traditional Indian dishes to mastering French haute cuisine — embodies the negotiation between heritage and assimilation. Food becomes the medium through which cultural barriers are bridged, suggesting that hybrid identities can produce creative harmony rather than loss.

Similarly, Bend It Like Beckham portrays food as a symbol of generational conflict and eventual reconciliation. Jess’s mother insists that cooking Punjabi food defines womanhood, while Jess resists this domestic expectation to pursue football. Yet, by the film’s end, food becomes a site of mutual understanding — the family’s meals signify acceptance of hybridity rather than rejection of tradition. These representations highlight how diasporic identity is constantly redefined through negotiation, not opposition.

Food, Gender, and Domestic Space :

Within diasporic narratives, the kitchen often emerges as a gendered space where women perform both cultural preservation and creative resistance. For female migrants, cooking is a form of agency — a way to assert identity in contexts where other forms of self-expression may be limited. Ashima in The Namesake, Mrs. Sen in Interpreter of Maladies, and Mrs. Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham embody this tension between domesticity and empowerment. Their culinary labor is both a duty and a declaration: through cooking, they reproduce culture, but through innovation, they also transform it.

Avtar Brah’s notion of “diaspora space” resonates here — it is within such domestic zones that the boundaries between “home” and “hostland” blur most visibly. The kitchen becomes a symbolic crossroads where histories of migration, gender, and cultural memory intersect. Food, therefore, is not only a sign of continuity but also a creative act that challenges patriarchal and colonial definitions of identity.

Food, Globalization, and Cultural Exchange :

In the contemporary global landscape, food has become a powerful vehicle for cultural exchange and representation. Arjun Appadurai argues that globalization leads not to cultural homogenization but to “new forms of global cultural production” (Appadurai 31). The global spread of Indian cuisine, for instance, reflects both migration and adaptation. Dishes like “chicken tikka masala” — often cited as Britain’s “national dish” — epitomize this cross-cultural fusion. They carry traces of colonial history, postcolonial migration, and capitalist commodification.

However, globalization also raises questions about authenticity and ownership. As diasporic cuisines become global commodities, their meanings shift. What once symbolized nostalgia and belonging may become a spectacle for global consumption. This paradox underscores the complexity of diasporic identity: the same food that connects migrants to their roots can also be appropriated and sanitized by dominant cultures.

Despite this tension, food continues to serve as a medium of dialogue. Migrant restaurants, cookbooks, and culinary television programs function as platforms for cross-cultural storytelling. They enable diasporic voices to redefine representation on their own terms, turning the act of eating into an act of understanding.

Food as Cultural Text: Reading Memory and Belonging :

Food operates as what Roland Barthes would call a “system of communication” — a semiotic code through which social meanings are produced. In diasporic narratives, each ingredient, recipe, or meal becomes a text that encodes histories of migration, adaptation, and resistance. Lahiri’s Bengali dishes, Kureishi’s Anglo-Indian meals, or the cinematic representations of multicultural cuisine all function as cultural scripts that articulate identity beyond words.

The act of sharing food — whether in a family dinner or a restaurant — creates what Benedict Anderson terms an “imagined community,” where the dispersed members of a diaspora momentarily experience unity. Through the sensory act of eating, migrants affirm that belonging can be rebuilt, not merely remembered. Food thus serves as both archive and art — a living narrative of who we were, who we are, and who we continue to become.

Conclusion :

Food, within the context of diaspora, transcends its material function to become a profound expression of identity, memory, and adaptation. It acts as a bridge between the lost homeland and the new world, embodying the tension between nostalgia and transformation. As this essay has demonstrated, the works of Jhumpa Lahiri and Hanif Kureishi, along with films like The Hundred-Foot Journey and Bend It Like Beckham, reveal how culinary practices narrate the migrant experience in rich and complex ways.

Guided by the theoretical insights of Hall, Brah, and Appadurai, we see that food in diasporic literature and film is not merely a motif but a method — a mode of storytelling that encodes the politics of belonging. In every spice, every meal, and every act of eating together, the migrant reclaims agency, articulates hybridity, and reimagines home. Food, ultimately, is both memory and invention — the taste of survival and the flavor of becoming.

Words :2020

Images : 02

References :

 Appadurai, Arjun. “Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.” Public Worlds, edited by Dilip Gaonkar and Benjamin Lee, vol. 1, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS, 1996, mtusociology.github.io/assets/files/%5BArjun_Appadurai%5D_Modernity_at_Large_Cultural_Dim(Bookos.org).pdf.

Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. Routledge & CRC Press, www.routledge.com/Cartographies-of-Diaspora-Contesting-Identities/Brah/p/book/9780415121262.

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, edited by Jonathan Rutherford, Lawrence & Wishart, 1990, pp. 222–237. University of Warwick.