The Conversation Series: The World on a Plate: How Food reflects Culture, Migration, Assimilation, Identity, and Gobalisation

The world has been on the move for several decades. Migration is at an all-time high. Almost 300 million people today live in countries other than where they were born. In london and new york, more than a third of the residents are foreign-born. When people move, cultures and customs move. And food travels with people. As migrants get caught in politics of migration, identity, and assimilation, food becomes political too.

How did indian food travel the earth? Has it provided an identity to indian immigrants? How does ‘ethnic’ food climb the status ladder? For example, italian food in the usa started at the bottom, but as italian-americans prospered, and outgrew their hyphenated status, so did italian food. Have indian migrants, too, made that transition? Has indian food assimilated into the local cultures? Or is it still ‘ethnic’?

Our speaker, who works at the intersection of food and culture, will address these questions and more. He will address the process, the politics, and the roadblocks, on the route to food becoming the vehicle for immigrants’ assimilation in their adopted countries.