Optimistic diaspora theorists have argued that, for example, an early sign of creolization in a society is shown by the spread of ethnic food and restaurants. This prompted Thomas King’s jibe in Green Grass, Running Water, where the trickster Coyote telephones Robinson Crusoe’s Man Friday, and Friday replies “Hello, First Nations’ Pizza” (332).įood has been seen by some as a way in which minorities can gain acceptance in a multicultural society. So if the Haida people were found eating, say, pizza, rather than say, fish or pemmican they would lose their rights and funds as status Indians. In May 1988, for example, the Crown Counsel for British Columbia argued that Native peoples in that state were no longer “Native” if they ate white society’s fast food. To the essentialist, you are what you eat. (Speech to the Social Market Foundation, London).įood has even been used to define national identity. In April 2001 then British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook argued in a much quoted speech that the popularity of chicken tikka masala was a metonymic expression of a positive new multicultural Britain:Ĭhicken Tikka Massala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs adapts external influences…Coming to terms with multiculturalism as a positive force for our economy and society will have significant implications for our understanding of Britishness.
The United States, for example, has previously thought of itself as a melting pot, but is now more likely to see itself as a “mixed salad”, a mixture in which there should be both unity and a recognizable and identifiable ethnic diversity. WHITE TEETH AND SALMAN RUSHDIE’S THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEETįood has been often used as an image to delineate national and cultural identities. The Electronic Journal of the Department of EnglishįOOD AS A CULTURAL MARKER IN TIMOTHY MO’S SOUR SWEET, ZADIE SMITH’S
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