Importance Of Food In Relation To Migration And Diaspora Survival - Research Paper Example

? Importance Of Food In Relation To Migration And Diaspora Survival Introduction To handle the assigned text perfectly, the use of the original books by the authors, literary peer reviewed texts and different reviews were used. This is for the purpose of drawing comparisons between the three authors thoughts on food and how they view food making in line with the topic. The course themes include original feminist writings on diaspora and survival in relation to migration and displacement. The importance of food in immigrant narratives cannot be ignored, most immigrant narratives focus on food making and native food places in diaspora to show the cultural identification of the individuals through the food. Food is used as a significant mark of discovering one's identity as well as ethnicity. This study will concentrate on the importance of food in relation to survival and cultural identity in relation to migrants. In different feminist books, authors are obliged to talk about food as a way of identifying the characters with their original cultures and homes. The process of preparing foods is different for different ethnic groups. Considering the themes touched on in the course, diaspora and survival in relation to immigration, food is a brilliant topic to get to the people together. Authors can use food and specific restaurants to marry the immigration topic with culture and originality. The main discussion revolves around food, food preparation, how food affects the culture of people in relation to immigration and life in diaspora. Crescent is a timeless fiction by Abu-Jabber about an Iraq- American girl serine and hair. Sirine is a 39 year old woman who works in the Middle Eastern restaurant as a chef (Abu-Jabber, 7). The romantic intricacies involved in the novels revolve around food and the Arabian culture. Diana Abu-Jabber makes food her main topic as a means of uniting people of different cultures (8). She treats food as a cultural phenomenon as well as a conduit for connecting people of different backgrounds. Cultural differences are marked by different forms of communication. Nadia the owner of the cafe, the disturbed poet and the photographer are all urban nationals. There are no boundaries set to show the difference in culture or cultural characteristics such as food. The difference does not occur due to the different nations they hail from, they occur when they incorporate different ethnic groups, race and religion. This is seen in the Abu-Jabber publication (23). The differences between the characters in the book are not seen since they share the same culture despite difference in countries in which they come from. The culinary culture is the same and very uniting for the Arabs living in Los Angeles according to Abu-Jabber (30). Abu Jabber strives to discuss romantic relationships, migration and life in the diaspora in regards to the life of the characters back to their homes. Just like in Ana Castillo’s book ‘So far from God’ characters are interested in finding their identities thus their disturbed, disillusioned life. Discussion Food plays an important role in identifying an individual. Of the many characteristics of a culture exists food. Food acts as a connector between people of many different ethnicities and backgrounds. According to Faddah (9), food in the world acts as the first level of acceptance. Ethnic eating areas identify people with their traditions these enables different people interact with other people’s culture. When one interacts with other peoples cultural characteristics such as food, they are bound to understand the difference in backgrounds as well as appreciate each other. In the different texts by Abu-Jabber, Gish jean and Anna Castillo they all exemplify food as the immediate explanation of cultural experiences to other people. The three authors manage to use culinary expertise as a medium of knowing the identity, self- image and belonging of a person. The descriptive food language used in Crescent gives it its narrative presence (1-12). Owing to Abu Jabber's travels to her ancestral home, she comes back with a primal consciousness which in turn leads to the characterization in her book The Crescent. Her portrayal of food shows a deep intrigue and interest in the Arab cuisine. Sirine’s cuisines show culinary expertise, creativity, tireless labor and love for food in general. The protagonist expresses a sensuality of taste and feeling as well as emotional discourse caused by the delicate seasoning used to make the dishes. According to the author, Arabic cuisine represents the godliness, wholesomeness, nutrition and dietary balance required for international reputation. Abu-Jabber shows the importance of cuisine in discovering ones identity (7-9). This is seen in the protagonist’s life where Serine uses food making as way of finding her Arabic identity. Her culinary exploration nature is a stance of looking for roots just like the ancestral wandering of the Bideoin tribes across the dessert in search of spiritual wholesomeness. Abu Jabber uses a kitchen space as her characters meditation space just like the dessert in ancestral days (field 2006). The kitchen space is important for the characters in the crescent since it depicts the diaspora whereas the food acts as a transitory trophy from the home country. According to the book, food here represents a mediation language used by the characters who view nadirs cafe as accommodation for all their culinary solutions and issues. The protagonist has a way of dealing with dual cultural bases. She jungles between the double cultures through dynamic food making processes influenced by her culture (Abu-Jabber, 3). Abu Jabber uses descriptive narrative to show how immigrants from the Middle East are able to survive in the United States. Though a completely romantic story, the book captures the challenges facing the Arabs who migrate to the capital for different reasons. The book also manages to show the ways in which they are able to survive the hate and rejection from their new lives in the USA (Rodriguez, 29). The book employs personification and other literal devices to bring out the themes magnificently. The uniting factor for the immigrants is food. Food in Nadia’s cafe brings the people together as well as act as solace to the people who yearn to keep and uphold their cultural ways despite the troubles faced. Food making becomes a core subject in their lives since it unites them to their ancestral generations (Abu-Jabber, 6). Gish Jean on the other hand is one of the most talented writers. She stylistically employs descriptive narration in her book the love wife. The love wife revolves around the life of Carnegie the Chinese national, his wife Jane a Caucasian referred to as Blondie, their children and lanolin the nanny. The story intricately shows the cultural diversity of the wrongs when they adopt a Chinese baby and a half baby boy. The cultural effects of immigration and multicultural family are a big theme in the book. The immigrant Carnegie wrong and his family have dual cultures to deal with as well as immigration issues. For the wrong family, life is not normal when lanolin lands in their home. Lankan receives unbound affection from Carnegie as well as the kids. The kids are known to be polite since time, but with the arrival of lanolin from china, the kids resent their mother claiming she does not look like them. This is further made worse when Lanolin introduces Chinese food and snacks Gish, (9). The family becomes more inclined to their Chinese culture. LanLan uses food as a way of introducing the children to their culture food is used as a bridge between their life and their homeland. The children get culturally knowledgeable through LanLan. The nanny is also able to arouse the cultural identity in Carnegie through her aggressiveness and beauty. Lankan reminds him of his identity, his cultural ways as well as the beautiful women from his homeland. Carnegie is reminded of how beautiful was in china before they came to diaspora. The troubles of diaspora the unending fights between lazy, Wendy and the baby boy are as a result of multi racialism. Land is disturbed by her identity. She wonders if she is part of the family or just a servant. She is not the only one. Blondie also looks back striving to find out her identity. Identity is a big component of one’s life not only when in diaspora but also in one’s country. Everybody in this family wants to belong hence Lan's role. She uses culinary expertise to get to the children as well as Carnegie. So Far From God written by Ana Castillo’s is about a mother and the fate of her daughters. The book is also relevant in this topic due to the different cultures the characters find themselves in. food is not a really huge topic in Castillo’s work but it is still featured as a cultural characteristic. Food just like in the two books is used to bring this troubled home together. Castillo manages to show how the Mexican culture and family culture of her character affects their living in the diaspora. Through migration to different parts of the world, the daughters are able to fend for themselves. The most unfortunate thing about migrating is that all the daughters face their death in foreign places (Castillo, 12). In the different books the authors use food as a uniting factor between culture, identity and immigration and survival in the diaspora. Food acts as a link between cuisine and identity. The protagonists use food as an escape from loneliness and as a way of winning hearts. Both Abu Jaber and Gish Jen use their characters as items of uniting them from their home countries to the diaspora life. Immigration causes reason for identity loss due to the mixture of people in the diaspora. All the women discuss culture deeply in relation to migration and survival in the diaspora. In an effort to reconcile their characters with their identity, the authors use culinary expertise to make it wholesome, healthy to have knowledge about your cuisines. In conclusion, culinary exploration is portrayed a way of trying to find ones identity. The three authors successfully utilized food to portray cultural survival with regard to migrants. In Carnegie’s family the family is seen to love the new cuisine introduced by LanLan. This is in line with their Chinese roots. In the crescent, serine explores culinary methods as an interest to her Arabic and Christian background. She tries to find her identity but still explores cuisines from both backgrounds as a way of decidedness as regards to her identity. Ultimately, food acts as a link between ancestral land for the Chinese family, Mexican family and the Arabic family represented in the three books and the diaspora which they all live in USA. Work Cited Abu-Jabber, Diana. Crescent, New York: Pan MacMillan, 2003. Print Castillo, Ana .So Far from God, Miami: San Val Incorporated, 1994. Print Fadda C, Carol. ‘Arab American Literature in the Ethnic Borderland: Cultural Intersections in Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent’. American Literature Journal 6 (1) 9.2000. Print Gish, Jenn The Love Wife Washington: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2005. Print Rodriguez, Ralph, The Role of Creation in Ana Castillo's So Far from God London: Mellus Publishers. 2000. Print Read More