Food and Cooking Practices

Abstract

In this chapter I explore different aspects of food consumption practices among Russian migrants in the UK. In particular, I will look at how typical food items and the rituals associated with them change their meanings in a new cultural context. By examining how migrants articulate their feelings towards foods they miss or like, their experiences of new and old tastes, and their everyday practices of buying, cooking, and sharing traditional meals, I will show the connection between the symbolism of food and the sense of national belonging. Thus, food (following Petridou 2001; Caldwell 2009; Rabikowska and Burrell 2009) is understood here as cultural practice, or foodways, which includes a whole range of closely interlinked activities associated with food in daily life. As a result, my focus is not on the creation of a list of actual physical food items which would characterise a particular ethnicity or migrant group, but, rather, on the relationships and attitudes that people develop towards those items which manifest their cultural identity and sense of belonging to a particular culture or community (see Skey 2011). In this sense, a food product can be considered to be a visible representation of or a tangible reference to the images and ideas people have about their everyday lives, relationships, culture, and identity.