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Self Reflective Essay: Cultural Identity

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My PIP process was sparked from my interests in food anthropology and my Chinese cultural background. Given the sheer breadth of a study on cultural identity, I found it more practical to focus my studies through the lens of a medium that was not only appealing to my personal interests but also universal in its significance. I was drawn to how as an Australian-BornChinese teenager, like many of my peers; my identity was an integration of my cultural heritage and Western values which arose from my socialisation in, and acculturation to a Western society. Upon my initial process of self-reflection, I realised that tradition and kinship is a central identifier in the Asian diaspora and my Chinese heritage. This discovery, supplemented with my …show more content…

My secondary research established a macro-level understanding which was essential in revealing the complexities I had failed to consider in preliminary contemplation of my topic. I became aware that I had approached my study with a mentality that solely equated changes to
Asian food cultures as a results of integrating Western values that deconstructed traditions in
Chinese cultural identities. The traditions most affected by the result of the hybridisation of
Chinese cuisine extended across three broad categories: processes of food preparation, gastronomic shifts in traditional Chinese dishes and finally, communal acts of consumption.
Based on my secondary research, my primary research explored the constructs of the migrant
Asian cultural identity and its relation to food culture trends on a more detailed and analytical level. I began by consolidating my secondary findings with primary data collected through two questionnaires. One explored the role of food culture had in modern lifestyles and the second targeting Asian-Australian adolescents with questions addressing the changes and continuities of traditions and values in Non-Western food cultures. I also conducted …show more content…

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Originally, I had planned to supplement my research process with two expert interviews: one addressing traditions of Chinese cuisine and the second clarifying the links between food culture and identity. However, upon several rejections, I chose to replace this primary research methodology with a case study. Although this deviated from my original plans, the case study
I had conducted on 6 different Chinese restaurants over 12 weeks in the Beverly Hills district provided insightful means to explain my research findings. Through a combination of interviews, questionnaires and participant observation I was able to frame the challenges of cultural identities forming new dominances within existing complexities of construction from the perspectives of creators and consumers of hybridised Asian food culture.
With the completion of my PIP, I have reconstructed my own understanding of the sociological effects of migration and determined the importance of various socialisation agents in the development of an Asian migrant cultural identity parallel to hybridised food cultures. My newfound awareness of the wider repercussions of Western socialisation on the

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In the articles it is obvious that the people are affected by their cultural backgrounds. In, “What Americans Can Learn From Other Food Cultures” by Amy S. Choi, She focuses on comfort foods and their backgrounds. I believe that “Our comfort foods map who are, where we come from, and what happened to us along the way”(Choi). Growing up with a half Bolivian father some of my comfort foods consist of: Locro(Bolivian soup), Plantains, and eating Ichachados when we visited my grandmother.

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The combination of Western and Eastern dishes attract customers of different ethnicities. “The Chinese restaurant where the food is mad and consumed becomes a stage on which signs of hybridity are performed” (Liu 228). As the Chinese restaurants usually located in Chinatown, so more and more Canadian will come to Chinatown. This can better the relationship between Chinese and Canadian, and Chinatown is not only a place where gathering Chinese together, but also gather Canadian with Chinese, and encourage them to have more interaction to each other. Therefore, Canadian style of Chinese food helped Chinese society to fit into the Canadian

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Choi then quotes the Director of food studies at New York University, providing relevancy and authenticity to her work. The statement also establishes a link between what we eat and how it connects to particular memories and places in our minds. Moving on, the article is divided into six different subheadings. Each subheading explains the origin of indigenous food in different countries and what that denotes particular culture. Broadly speaking, food is necessary for survival, signifies status denotes pleasure, brings communities together and is essential for humanity.

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He also emphasized that most of them came from where all these western foods were not available so they adopt this style here and do not want to change as it has become part of them. From my perspective the most serious gap among dietary pattern and food availability, physical activities, lack of recreational environment and level of education is the educational level. This is because when one is educated, the most beneficial aspects of your life are always on the table for you to focus on. Frist it leads one to a healthier life style, engage in anything that will lead to healthy life, and abstain from any unhealthy behavior.

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Although there are various ways among ethnic minority groups to identify themselves, almost all ways are the purposes of preserving traditional culture and custom value, minority language, lifestyle, and so on. Firstly, let take a look at Asian Americans in the United States, the development of Chinatowns in many large American cities is typically illustrated examples for the identity of Chinese Americans in America[5]. The Chinese Americans make an effort to establish their private communities on American land. To be more specific, Chinatowns in America are places which keep ancient Chinese architectures, Chinese cuisine and traditional Chinese festivals. For instance, annually the Chinese Americans organize important Chinese festivals.

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