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标题: Foods in the Immigrant Diet _ a Personal Struggle? [打印本页]
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 11:49
标题: Foods in the Immigrant Diet _ a Personal Struggle?
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 25-8-2020 13:43 编辑
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Preface
Australia in recent decades has undertaken some dramatic social changes; leading the field is the subject of multiculturalism; no doubt because one third of Australia’s population were born overseas.
The latest Australia Bureau of Statistics 2016 shows the Chinese born residents to be the most prolific among those with a non-English speaking background. Being a Chinese migrant myself one of, if not the greatest issue of mine, upon settling down and calling this new land my home was food, precisely the differences between the food of the land of my birth and that of my newly adopted home.
Recently I conducted a research project to discover if other fellow elderly Chinese immigrants found difficulty in accepting the food of our new land as opposed to that of culturally familiar food. Through this project, I have learned a great deal about food as well as myself and Chinese culture. It has also helped me to gain a better understanding of how immigrants from other ethnic backgrounds accept such differences.
This forum provides me with a quick and convenient way to share my experiences and research findings relative to food culture with the members of the Chinese immigrant community throughout Australia. I would also like to hear from you as well.
What are your experiences relative to culturally based food and culinary practices in this land of Australia?
I’ll share my story short afterwards.
作者: 牧马人 时间: 11-10-2018 11:54
My brekkie. The dark spread on toast was vegemite. How adaptive am I!
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 12:28
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 11-10-2018 13:18 编辑
Have a look at two popular threads below:
https://freeoz.org/ibbs/thread-1299574-1-1.html 大家来说各地的小吃、中吃、大吃 by @kevin妈妈 ；
https://freeoz.org/ibbs/thread-1299422-1-1.html 散文 · 简餐 (浮生若梦）by @MICHELLE07
And, @yping88 this's a big question for me 
https://freeoz.org/ibbs/thread-1300331-1-1.html Why have you fallen in love with Australia?
@yping88 @MICHELLE07 @牧马人 @mason00 @Serin @语之玫瑰 @mite @KYLIE2008 @指纹 @hedgehog @幸福妈妈 @OZCherry
Is there anyone else interested in food? Everyone is more than welcome to join this discussion.
作者: kevin妈妈 时间: 11-10-2018 12:47
我英文很渣，无法参与英文讨论
你们聊
作者: MICHELLE07 时间: 11-10-2018 12:58
Thanks yearshappy for inviting me
Pleasure
Firstly let me call a new friend to join in this discussion @带你湖
he or his gorgeous wife may have something to share
My experience with food in a new country:
1. No difficulty at all
2. Cooking what we want at home, all ingredients are available with good qualities
3. Eating out often -- there're plenty of nice restaurants
4. Having lunch with colleagues - enjoy different types of food
5. Stick to healthy food and always try something new
6. What exactly is the land of my birth? .. ..not sure. I naturally adapted to whatever was offered to me when I left my hometown for the the first time.
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 12:59
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 11-10-2018 13:19 编辑
How often do you have a typical Chinese breakfast?
(The definition of a 'typical Chinese breakfast' is of your choice)
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 13:02
@@带你湖 
It'd be fantastic if you can join the discussion.
作者: 牧马人 时间: 11-10-2018 13:03
As often as I travel back to China, having classic Chinese brekkie with tears in my eyes.
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 13:09
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 11-10-2018 21:21 编辑
A personal Struggle in the Kitchen
In the early years of my migration to Australia, I often stood in the kitchen, looking around helplessly in a struggle to determine what food to cook and how I could prepare my dinner to suit my taste. I was trying to find a sense of home, but it just wasn't there yet.
That was a typical Australian kitchen and the apparatus, the cutlery, electric appliances were foreign to me. There was neither a wok nor a soymilk maker; instead what I saw was an oven and a toast maker. Opening up the built-in cabinets I searched but could find no trace of the Chinese soy sauce. There was a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce which I found its taste weird. There was no garlic chives, no Chinese choy sum either; what was offered to me was oregano, brussel sprouts, vegemite and butter.
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For an elderly Chinese migrant, needless to say, the situation was almost overwhelming for it created a juxtaposition between the excitement of a new-found situation and the despair of a lost familiarity. I confess therewas a certain ‘longing for the green, green grass of home’ (apologies to JohnDenver) with Chinese food all around me and the smell and taste of home.
One day a friend of mine came in and brought me the well-known Sichuan dish, Bai Yun Feng Zhao (chicken feet). I was as hungry as a bear that has just found a pot of honey and just hoed in; I didn’t realise that I had consumed it all and had forgotten to leave any for her. A decade later myfriend and I still often laugh about my horse-like eating behaviour of that day.
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I am not a gastronomist not even a foodie; however, I did miss tremendously the food and the kitchen that I was familiar with and grew up in. While endeavouring to embrace the new culture in this destiny land I struggled daily in dealing with what I could eat and how I should cook. Over these years, it begs questions such as, what role does culturally familiar food and culinary practice play in the lives of migrants and what impact does it have on individual migrants both now and in the future?
作者: Serin 时间: 11-10-2018 14:10
I have no problem with most of the edible stuff. I told my colleagues that I was a typical Chinese and that meant I ate everything with legs except chair. I found vegemite quite appetising with a thin layer on a buttered toast or a small dip on crushed cucumber. The devil is in the quantity.
What I am not quite clear is what Australian style of food is. I often see sausage sizzles, lamb cutlets, BBQ ribs associated with Australian style but most of them strike me as red meat or processed meat high in fat, sugar and sodium. As much as I love bacon et al, I always have to refrain from being greedy.
Being a people brought up in FST(Free-Shipping Territory, 江浙沪包邮区), one thing I especially missed here in Aus is fresh bamboo shoot.
作者: MICHELLE07 时间: 11-10-2018 14:34
Serin 发表于 11-10-2018 14:10
I have no problem with most of the edible stuff. I told my colleagues that I was a typical Chinese a ...
I ate everything with legs except chair
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 14:37
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 11-10-2018 20:08 编辑
Personal Troubles, Public Matters
It seems I was not alone in this matter and that similar struggles are evident with the members of other migrant communities worldwide. In the United States, Emily Kim with the online name Maangchi (Korean in origin), has found herself by creating a Korean kitchen in New York City and becoming a popular blogger. She said to the New York Times that she had ‘a taste from growing up in Korea.’
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Additionally, in his 2014 research paper, Fabio Parasecoli, an Italian born Professor and journalist, illustrates his experience when encountering native familiar food in the United States; he describes it as a feeling of being home again, 'Somehow I was at home yet away from home!' In his speech on YouTube video (2013), he tells about his thoughts of food in relation to society and how he, while reflecting upon the power of food, started to think about what he eats in daily life. It was this association and connection with food that enabled the establishment of links to like-minded Italian-American cousins.
[youtube]ZwxoaMGsgoI[/youtube]
Back in Australia in 2016, scholars Schermuly and Forbes-Mewett from Monash University conducted research on South African-Australians and found that, culinary rituals and traditional food for these migrants is closely associated with their identity and belonging. In their transitional experience, it is by continuing to consume their traditional cuisine that they reconstruct a feeling of home and are able to build a bridge connecting their previous life to the present one, thereby easing the transitional experience.
Day-to-day food choices and culinary practices in the homes of migrants are the choices of individual persons and is a private matter. Seeing the perspective of sociologist Wright Mills there are connections linking many segments together so that a pattern becomes clear in which migrants in Australia, as well as the United States, are having similar experiences with food. Only then do we find that our issues at home are not as personal as it appears but retain significance in social institutions and histories.
This is a clear scenario of how a struggle on a personal level in a private home has become a public matter and a social phenomenon.
作者: Serin 时间: 11-10-2018 14:40
Haven't tried that so can't comment.
作者: 带你湖 时间: 11-10-2018 18:39
本帖最后由 带你湖 于 11-10-2018 18:55 编辑
Thanks for the invitaiton. I love my Shanghai cuisine very much. Living abroad for the last 15 years, I have had the pleasure of eating good quality Chinese food. Although my wife is Persian Canadian and generally loves Canadian cuisine, she has developed strong appreciation for Chinese food since we married.
My wife is also a food blogger and has a massive followers. Please check the link below.
she has a food blog called https://www.aheadofthyme.com/
[attach]435736[/attach]
We have been travelling around the world for last 6 months and have had a great variety of food. One of my favorite cuisines is Sichuan food including hot pot.
Check out our food tour in Sichuan. I would really appreciate if you guys can come to my youtube channel and subscribe to our channel by clicking link in video and subcribing to our channel (www.youtube.com/huslost).
[youtube]i8U_t_cEPHM&t=383s[/youtube]
作者: 带你湖 时间: 11-10-2018 18:43
sorry if my comment has gone a little off topic.
作者: 妮南 时间: 11-10-2018 20:16
I enjoy toast with avocado and a cup of tea for breakfast .
I love dumpling,rice and noodle
Chinese food is still my favourite.
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 20:41
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 8-8-2020 16:54 编辑
Show me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are
Samples from my photographic data collection
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Food and cooking utensils which I saw in both homes: soysource, dumplings, cooked chicken feet, fried leafy vegetables, steam cloth,steam cooker, soymilk maker, chopsticks and Chinese cleavers. Soy source is oneof the items that appeared often throughout my research data, supporting the research findings of Kim and Chung in 2013 (which analysed nearly 6000 recipesfrom 22 countries) that declared soy source to be the most prevalent Chinese ingredient.
The table below is copied fromKim & Chung’s (2013) research project.
[attach]435741[/attach]
On a visit to the home of one of the participants, a topic of particular interest that we discussed was the Chinese preference in using the cleaver, believing it most suitable for food preparation so dishes can be eaten with chopsticks. Naturally this compares with the western practice of using kitchen knives and other utensils in similar preparation and consumption.
For anyone interested, here is a video on the topic of Chinese cleavers by the Australian celebrity chief Adam Liaw
[attach]435750[/attach]
[youtube]gDdoht0e1sg[/youtube]
What Chinese foods are you familiar with
and do you have a Chinese cleaver in yourkitchen?
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 21:06
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 11-10-2018 21:32 编辑
The Significance of Chinese Foods for elderly Chinese Immigrants
Although my research involved only a small number of mature aged Chinese migrants, two of them prepared similar foods in the same manner. Culturally familiar food and culinary practices is for these Chinese immigrants the keystone to their future happiness and well-being.
By creating familiar food in a familiar kitchen, then migrants of any persuasion can state, “If the food tastes like home, then it is my home.” These are the feelings that were articulated by two participants while showing me their kitchen and their gardens where the leafy Chinese vegetable plants were thriving. Both of them appeared bright and optimistic with one commenting that earlier Chinese migrants in the era of the gold rush and afterwards were not lucky enough to have such ready access to Chinese food.
Food is not simply only an entity of nutrition it carries memory and tradition and reflects identity. Culturally familiar food for people who are far away from where they grew up, can instantly trigger a series of emotions which can have impact on their physical well-being, as the Ghanaian migrants in the United States expressed ‘I haven’t eaten if I don’t have my soup and fufu.’ The pleasure, satisfaction and the fulfilment obtained from familiar food at a new home certainly assists the positive transitional experiences of these participants of my project.
Would you have weetbix or bacon and eggs or soymilk and porridge for brekky?
作者: yping88 时间: 11-10-2018 21:23
No matter where you end up, you would make it your own!
作者: yping88 时间: 11-10-2018 21:28
A friend of mine once told me: If you try the vegemite, you will either love it or hate it, there will be no feelings in between!
Obviously, you love it! Good start to settle in!
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 21:36
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 8-8-2020 17:12 编辑
..
What we are is shaped by Social Factors
Why do we want to eat what we eat?
Why is one man’s meat anotherman’s poison?
In an understanding as to why people eat what they eat andhow they become what they are, two theoretical frameworks may be helpful: the sociological imagination and the habitus theory.
The former was coined by Charles Wright Mills (1916-62) inhis publication The Sociological Imagination (1959) which teaches us that we cannot separate the individual from society; to understand one, we have to understand the other; we have to see an individual within a social and historical context.
The other is the habitus theory which was developed by Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), a leading French sociologist who observed that our preferences, such as in food are the interactions within social and material worlds and are determined by social factors including class, education and culture. His work, ‘Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste’, although based on the middle-classes in French society has significance that extends into today’s world.
[attach]435751[/attach]
In the light of these two theories, the preference of Chinese food for the participants in my project is not only a personal determination but also due to one’s living experience and the culture they grew up in.
作者: yping88 时间: 11-10-2018 21:38
Thank you for bringing this up, @yearshappy
This should be the topic on which @牧马人 and I would find each other have so much in common with!
Of course, we all love the land that we have made our permanent or long-term base in, please, join me and share your fondness for this land!
https://freeoz.org/ibbs/thread-1300331-1-1.html
作者: yping88 时间: 11-10-2018 21:40
What is your classic Chinese brekkie? I would like to understand your tears! 
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 21:52
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 8-8-2020 17:16 编辑
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Integration & Culture Reproduction:
Finally call it Home
Acculturation in contemporary societies has shifted its objectives from the situation whereby a single dominant culture has broad control of indigenous peoples into the formation of a culturally pluralistic society where ethno-cultural groups have combined in order to live harmoniously together.
Professor John Berry from Queen’s University of Canada, inhis 2005 paper, claims that these mutually agreed adaptations of combining ethno-cultural groups may be a long-term process taking place over years or possibly even generations. At a social level, matters such as political, economic, historical and cultural factors may impact upon the adaptation process and at the individual level some may find it easy while others challenging. However, by progressive contact with other cultures and engagement in differing socialactivities, even the individuals who find integration difficult will discover that they will slowly adapt and accept the changes.
In my project, while two of the participants have lived in Australia for 8 and 11 years, the third informant has been absent from her birth country for 38 years. My data shows that the first two participants clearly practise the Chinese way of cooking, however, one of them also shows a strong interest in learning how to cook local food. For example, as well as her Chinese cooking appliances she also had a toaster and a full set of cutleries. During the interview, the third informant expressed that she had no issue with western food, particularly for the breakfast, as she and her husband often had weetbixor toast; however, it could be optimistic to think that mature age Chinese immigrants will, over time, readily adapt and even adopt this new culture and warm to the new cuisine available to them.
I, the participants in my project and many others are merely part of the process of culture reproduction. In time, we will finally call this land home.
Epilogue
This small project is only an attempt to disclose how the personal issues of mature aged Chinese immigrants have a public face.
作者: yping88 时间: 11-10-2018 21:54
Serin 发表于 11-10-2018 14:10
I have no problem with most of the edible stuff. I told my colleagues that I was a typical Chinese a ...
I don't think I can ever have enough of the deep-fried sticky rice cakes, which I desperately longed for as a child and abused on as a revenge in my adult life!
作者: 牧马人 时间: 11-10-2018 23:18
Oh dear. I reckon only contentious topics can get me intrigued. So what now then?
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 23:26
so you're a fighter
作者: 牧马人 时间: 11-10-2018 23:27
Chinese deep fried breadstick and 豆腐脑(who knows the English for it?)
As a Northerner I have to make it loud and clear, the 豆腐脑 has to be salty. Any sweet 豆花 is not only waste of food but also anti-human. Everyone must stand up to it.
作者: 牧马人 时间: 11-10-2018 23:30
A proud fighter for the sacred name of 豆腐脑
作者: yearshappy 时间: 11-10-2018 23:39
牧马人 发表于 11-10-2018 23:27
Chinese deep fried breadstick and 豆腐脑(who knows the English for it?)
As a Northerner I have ...
savory tofu pudding would do
作者: Serin 时间: 12-10-2018 09:15
带你湖 发表于 11-10-2018 18:39
Thanks for the invitaiton. I love my Shanghai cuisine very much. Living abroad for the last 15 years ...
You've put a lot of effort into your blogs and Youtube channel! Awesome work!
作者: yearshappy 时间: 12-10-2018 09:38
就是引用你的大吃小吃中吃的帖子，我自己的经历，几个年长的咱们的移民，当今学者的研究成果，领域里的已经建立的理论，探讨吃文化的社会现象
作者: kevin妈妈 时间: 12-10-2018 10:01
你们英文都太好了，我下辈子也追不上。
西餐我还是不太爱吃，一直都是中餐胃。
作者: 带你湖 时间: 12-10-2018 16:00
Thanks. It is an hobby of mine and my wife's and we have been working very hard on that. Thanks for the recognition.
作者: OZCherry 时间: 13-10-2018 02:32
Being an adult immigrant like us, born and raised in China and now living in Western society, we become more or less of W-easterners. I have always loved Western culture from my heart, which could trace back to my middle-school years. To be exact, i think it all happened when i first heard the Carpenters' song Yesterday Once More. From there, English as a language and English songs are all very close to my heart. And after immigration to Australia, I have been trying to mix into the main stream culture. Only recent two years, I started to rediscover the beauty of Chinese culture, all started from traditional Chinese medicine, which turned out not just about medicine, it actually is part of the Chinese philosophy, i.e. the attitude towards life, do things in moderate measures and not to indulge in anything. I feel as a Chinese descendant I actually don’t know much about our culture. So here I am, haven’t really “mixed into” the local Western society, and shamefully don’t even know much about my own tradition culture. Understanding the saying “The only thing goes Internationally is the unique aspect of a nation’s culture” now, I am trying to reconnect with my root while still loving Western music, movies and philosophy…
Ok, back onto the topic of food. It is the same with food that I am a W-easterner.
I love baking and all sorts of Western food, i.e. home-made pizza, pudding, banana bread, home-made bread, yoghurt, but not vegemite Apparently not as adaptive as you @yearshappy. I also love making traditional Chinese food, i.e. home-made rice liquor, moon cake, stir-fried pork wrapped in bread.
It is really difficult to find all those photos for the food, so I have dug into my Wechat moments and grabbed the following screen-shots.
[attach]435792[/attach][attach]435793[/attach]
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作者: OZCherry 时间: 13-10-2018 02:33
Sorry, first time posting photos here. They look awfully huge
作者: anuo 时间: 21-10-2018 18:56
Looks too salty.
I've never tried vegemite before.
作者: anuo 时间: 21-10-2018 19:02
Me too, mostly.
I have a strong curiosity to international food.
And also I really enjoy the food in Australia.
Additionally, I love cooking at home.
作者: anuo 时间: 21-10-2018 19:12
Serin 发表于 11-10-2018 14:10
I have no problem with most of the edible stuff. I told my colleagues that I was a typical Chinese a ...
The real local ----Aborginal people like legs and feet as well.
In my family , we love to eat some organs , maybe once a month.
作者: KYLIE2008 时间: 28-10-2018 13:31
We did the blood test two weeks ago. The result came up last week....not good:-( Cholesterol ratio is much more than the standard, so is Triglyceride...we have to consider to give up some of our favorite...or reduce the portion... meat and sugar...these are all my best loved
作者: yearshappy 时间: 28-10-2018 18:50
Emm, it's perhaps reasonable to have a second test as many factors such as taking certain medications, and the length of a fast, can sometimes affect the readings.
Nonetheless, a proper diet is always essential to a good health. Cut back on sugar then , also get portion under control.
作者: yearshappy 时间: 29-10-2018 00:06
本帖最后由 yearshappy 于 29-10-2018 00:10 编辑
Cutting back your sugar intake will help lower your triglyceride. Try to avoid refined sugar as much as you can while watching your carbohydrate.
As for high cholesterol, i understand its chief cause is fat, precisely trans fat (the worst of all, according to the lecture from Yale University I learned yesterday) as well as saturated fat. So, you may have to have some changes in your diet. With regularly exercising, you'll be all right over time.
Below is talking about sugar, cholesterol and diet (from the perspective of public health), just in case you're interested
https://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/psyc-123/lecture-4
I'd like to hear from @yping88; how do you keep a healthy cholesterol and lower bad LDL?
作者: HPEB 时间: 29-10-2018 12:04
Normally we would have an egg, porridge and salted veges in the morning. Steamed bread for lunch and dinner only cause no time to prepare more for breakfast.
作者: yearshappy 时间: 25-8-2020 14:39
journal articles on the topic of breakfast
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc
[attach]451684[/attach]
作者: yearshappy 时间: 25-8-2020 14:51
a reference from Azar et al "Festival foods in the immigrant diet' (2013)
a passage of ''The Roel of Food in Emotional, Social, and Physiological Wellness"
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