UCSF

For centuries, the traditional Chinese diet was comprised of grains, vegetables, and fruit, with dairy products and meats sparingly consumed. However, the contemporary Chinese American diet has now become radically transformed due to globalization and industrialization, among other factors. Subsequently, the impact of migration on traditional concepts of food and health within Chinese immigrant communities warrants even closer examination. For this study, the primary research aim focuses on how migration impacts the social construction of food, knowledge, and identity between two generations of Chinese Americans residing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

25 Chinese Americans (18+ years of age) participated in one semi-structured qualitative interview of up to 3 hours. All data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The sample size included 6 parent-child dyads, 2 married couples, and 9 single family members. Slightly over half of the sample (n=15) identified as first generation (defined as Chinese immigrants from China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan). The remainder were second or third generation Chinese Americans.

Preliminary findings are presented through a set of three papers, which are intended to be exploratory and contribute to current literature and discourses around Chinese American generational differences and food narratives.

The first paper utilizes Sobal & Bisogni’s Food Choice Process Model (FCPM) (2009) to examine the life course events/experiences, influences, and personal food systems influencing Chinese American food behaviors from a transdisciplinary perspective. Generational differences were observed regarding life course events and experiences, though turning points did not play a substantial role in reshaping food trajectories across both generations. Food memories, time constraints, familial influences, culinary food knowledge/transmission between generations, geographical boundaries, and self-interest in Chinese foodways were identified as the most influential factors impacting the evolution of individual food narratives. The intersection of acculturation, identity, and foodways was most apparent through the manifestation of food behaviors.

The second paper explores the cultural sites of food knowledge transmission and how they contribute to the formation of food memories and embodied experiences among two generations of Chinese Americans. The intersection of food practices and cooking rituals with Chinese American identity and historical consciousness was also explored, alongside the cultural transmission of cooking and culinary knowledge to successive generations.

For many first generation Chinese Americans, food memories serve as a reminder of a past era - geographically, spatially, and temporally. At the same time, transnational corporations and modernization processes have contributed to a new generation of cultural and social meanings associated with the consumption and production of Chinese cuisine. Lived experiences from the past also inevitably appear in the current food practices and preferences of Chinese Americans, contributing to intergenerational differences regarding cooking perspectives and knowledge transmission. However, the intersection between migration and the intergenerational transmission of cooking knowledge and food practices remains largely unexplored in the current literature. Advances in digital media and a resurgence of interest in cookbooks may provide new opportunities for the print and online publication of family stories and recipes as one avenue for documenting and preserving culinary heritage which may otherwise be lost over time.

The third and final paper examines Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of deterritorialization and multiplicities, Appadurai’s notion of global cultural flows, and Krishnendu Ray’s work with Bengali-American households to understand the social processes underlying Chinese American foodways, including the role of food memories. As we become an increasingly global society, food consumption patterns and migration trends offer an interesting nexus for exploring the role of food in perpetuating and re-creating definitions and constructs of culture, knowledge, and identity on both macro and micro levels.

Food memories also tend to be highly associated with our lived experiences. When situated within contexts of historical consciousness, the macro and micro-level factors shaping the Chinese diaspora's food trajectories become even more evident, particularly from a generational perspective.