Diaspora and Migration – Madeline+Dayania
The aim of this blog is to provide commentary on our presentation of Diaspora and Migration through media samples provided in FST215W Global Food Ways:
Examine the different definition and interpretation of these concepts relevant to the chosen media:
Through the forced enslavement of West Africans food items such as Okra, black-eye peas, and pumpkin just to name a few, traveled to the Americas and became staple food sources throughout the era of Mid-Atlantic Slave Trade. Feeding the enslaved humans on board of slave ships also established an industrial like methodology of food production: cheap, quick, and just enough nutrients to be kept alive.
Flavors of Wessindian foods directly influenced the migrations of Americans westward of the North American continent. Use of sugar, meat preparation, and spices enabled the survivorship of caravans through United States expansion. Such flavors used adopted ingredients through available resources on the trek. The meat of animal, greens, and spices changed depending on location, yet all were used to cook pot meals to sustain travelers.
To better recognize the forms of migrations and diaspora, particularly within American food systems, the dialogue of African Food must change so to deconstruct racial discriminations and to support the large variety and unique foods and flavors distinct to specific countries and regions of Africa and resist generalization of the largest continent in the world.
The migration and diaspora of places like McDonalds in different countries have left a lasting impact on the residents of those countries, exposing them to a type of food culture that they would not have otherwise known existed.
The act of recreating something familiar in an everyday lifestyle different from what one is used to creates this air of safety and comfort that every person looks for, especially when they get home from a place they’re not familiar with.
The issues discussed about is the immigration of possibly parasitic plants or the modification of certain ingredients and foods to survive in different parts of the world, which can drastically change the way that specific food is made, as well as the environmental landscape. It also raises the concerns about the ethnicity of foods in different countries. The food eventually no longer becomes ethnic and it not only loses its original taste but also the origins it carries as it gets lost in corporate greed.
People tend to adapt to their surroundings, however we gravitate towards familiar things out of habit; for our safety. They might not have the same ingredients as they did before, but they still make it work, turning it into something they know and love.
This film showcases the migration of Caribbean people as a form of resistance to imperialism by Britain powers. The plot forces on several members of the Wessindian community in England accused of starting a riot in response to police harassment onto a Caribbean restaurant known as The Mangrove.
By creating a food supply chain and dispersing it all over the united states to restore culturally appropriate food resources in response to food insecurity from modernization and loss of field lands. Because they made the food more accessible to people across the country again contributed to obtaining food insecurity caused by systemic oppression onto indigenous Americans.
Gardeners grow many culturally important food items, including Chilies, and peppers, the difference lies in the produces use and flavor profile. Serrano peppers are chilies, poblanos are peppers.
Land access is a main challenge for gardeners, who often rely on using land owned by the dairy farms they work at, resembling a sharecropping relationship. Additionally, as much of this labor is unpaid, growing and preparing these foods are often done by migrant women within these communities.
- Sauce Gombo: pg. 247
- Water
- Okra
- Tomato paste
- Habanero
- Salt and Pepper
- Rice
Determine the ingredients/flavors which have been brought to this dish through direct migration or diasporic journeys: