A Taste of Home?: Food, Identity and Belonging Among Brazilians In
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A Taste of Home?: Food, Identity and Belonging among Brazilians in London Maria das Graças Santos Luiz Brightwell Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London Submitted for the degree of PhD 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Maria das Graças Santos Luiz Brightwell, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 2 Abstract This thesis brings a focus to food and its cultural geographies by examining the ways that diasporic communities forge networks of distribution and the role of homesickness in shaping tastes in consumer societies. It also adds food (as material and immaterial culture) to diasporic geographies by highlighting the importance of food practices for migrant identities and sense of belonging. Through an investigation of food practices among Brazilians in London this research also contributes to an understanding of how this recent, numerous but under researched South American group experience migration in an everyday basis in London. The investigation undertaken includes desk research on food provision systems, semi-structured interviews and documentary field research with Brazilian food providers across London, focus group discussions with Brazilian migrants, periods of observational research in case study shop and restaurant outlets, and ethnographic domestic research with case study Brazilian households in Harlesden, Brent (an area of London with marked Brazilian immigration over the last decade). My analysis considers ‘Brazilianess’ as a category and cultural-culinary form being made and contested in London. An overview of the dynamics of Brazilian food provision in London shows that this making and contesting operates through both the material culture of food provision and the social lives of public spaces such as restaurants, cafes and grocery shops. Brazilian food consumption thus operates in a number of different registers linked to practicality, emotion and ethnic identification. A closer look at public Brazilian food consumption spaces reveals how such places create collective migrant spaces of belonging by translocalizing Brazilian life. In the domestic settings, food narratives and observation reveal the materialities and practices of migrant home making in mixed households and the processes through which consumption practices are negotiated and contested by different household members. 3 Acknowledgments First I offer my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Phil Crang for his continuous support and intellectual guidance. This thesis was sponsored by the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme and by a grant from the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. I am extremely grateful to have been awarded these grants, as this financial support was fundamental for the complexion of this thesis. I am indebted to all the participants who gave their time free of charge and opened their homes and businesses for me to garner the data which underpins this study. My colleagues at GEB (Brazilian Migration to the UK Research Group) have provided me with a tremendous platform for testing my ideas, giving me high quality feedback and the possibility of taking part in a collective intellectual project. My family, husband Tim and children Greg, Sofia and Andre, have come with me on this long journey. I thank them for all their patience, care and love. Finally my thanks go out to all those people not mentioned above who contributed to this thesis – maybe with a simple recipe, bibliography tips, a memory or simply a word of encouragement. 4 Table of Contents DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP 2 ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 1 CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCING AND RESEARCHING BRAZILIAN FOOD IN LONDON 10 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 Researching Brazilian food in London: A personal journey 27 1.3 Researching Brazilian food provision and consumption in London 33 1.3.1 An overview of Brazilian food provision in London 34 1.3.2 Focus group discussions on Brazilian food consumption 40 1.3.3 Ethnographic research in case study outlets 42 1.3.4 Researching Brazilian food consumption in domestic settings 47 1.3.5 Analysis and presentation 49 1.3.6 Conclusion 51 2 CHAPTER TWO - FOOD, MIGRATION AND THE BRAZILIAN DIASPORA 55 2.1 Introduction 56 2.2 Food and its geographies 57 2.3 Adding food (as material and immaterial culture) to diasporic geographies 65 2.4 Brazilian migration 82 2.4.1 Bye bye, Brazil! 82 2.4.2 Brazilians in the UK 89 2.4.3 Being and becoming Brazilian abroad 92 2.5 Conclusion 100 3 CHAPTER THREE - ‘ON THE MOVE AND ON THE MAKING’: BRAZILIAN FOOD PROVISION IN LONDON 102 3.1 Introduction 104 5 3.2 Brazilian grocery trade to and in London: from transnational space to local place 107 3.3 ‘It’s not everyone’s cake’: the making of a ‘Brazilian’ diasporic cuisine 125 3.4 Multicultural palates and ‘home made food’ 133 3.4.1 Brazilian flavours for mainstream customers 134 3.4.2 ‘All they want is homemade food...’ 151 3.5 Emotional geographies of displacement, homesickness and remembrance 172 3.6 Conclusion 177 4 CHAPTER FOUR - ‘THERE IS A BIG BRAZILIAN IDENTITY INSIDE MY BELLY’: AN OVERVIEW OF FOOD CONSUMPTION PRACTICES AMONG BRAZILIANS IN LONDON ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 4.1 Introduction 180 4.2 Brazilian food consumption as a habit 184 4.2.1 Changes 184 4.2.2 Continuities and ‘Returns’ 198 4.3 Gut feelings 210 4.4 Consuming the nation abroad 217 4.5 Conclusion 226 5 CHAPTER FIVE - THE PUBLIC CULTURE OF BRAZILIAN FOOD COMMERCE IN HARLESDEN: A CASE STUDY OF MERCEARIA BRASIL, SABOR MINEIRO AND THEIR TRANSLOCAL GEOGRAPHIES 229 5.1 Introduction 230 5.2 The research setting 233 5.3 Claiming space: localizing the Brazilian presence in London 243 5.3.1 Spaces of sociality and belonging 243 5.3.2 Emotional geographies of comfort and familiarity 248 5.3.3 Claiming a space for Brazilian children 252 5.3.4 Visibility and Brazilian identity in the city 255 5.4 Translocalizing Brazilian life 261 5.4.1 Having something in common 262 5.4.2 ‘Brazilianess’ remade and contested 270 5.4.3 Translocal ‘Brazilianess’ as the working of memory 274 5.5 Conclusion 279 6 6 CHAPTER SIX - AT HOME WITH BRAZILIANS IN HARLESDEN 282 6.1 Introduction 283 6.2 Situating domestic food practices in the two households 292 6.3 Communal eating in the households 303 6.4 Sensorial engagement with food in everyday life 313 6.5 Food, family and gender roles 321 6.6 Eating Brazilianess: imagine taking away the beans from my life?! 336 6.7 Conclusion 342 7 CHAPTER SEVEN - CONCLUSION: GEOGRAPHIES OF FOOD AND MIGRATION 344 7.1 How is ‘Brazilianess’ constructed, represented and contested through diasporic culinary culture in London? 345 7.2 What investments do diasporic Brazilians have in the consumption of Brazilian food? 349 7.3 How are constructions of, and investments in, Brazilian food implicated in the production of public and domestic spaces? 354 7.4 How can food - as material culture and as an embodied practice - contribute to understanding meanings of home, identity and belonging among diasporic populations? 357 7.5 How is Brazilian food translocalised? 360 7.6 Future agendas for research 362 APPENDIX I - RESEARCH ON BRAZILIAN OUTLETS 381 APPENDIX II - FOCUS GROUPS COMPOSITION 384 7 List of Figures, Tables and Maps FIGURE 1.1 DINDA ZEFA’S BRAZILIAN BEANS 32 FIGURE 2.1 GROWTH OF BRAZILIAN MIGRATION IN THE UK 90 FIGURE 3.1 BRAZILIAN CENTRE 113 FIGURE 3.2 BRAZILIAN EMPORIUM AND RECANTO DO BRASIL 113 FIGURE 3.3 BRAZILIAN GROCERY SHOPS IN LONDON 114 FIGURE 3.4 MERCEARIA BRASIL FLYER 117 FIGURE 3.5 BRAZILIAN EMPORIUM FLYER 117 FIGURE 3.6 RECANTO DO BRASIL 118 FIGURE 3.7 BEM BRASIL ADVERTISMENT 119 FIGURE 3.8 GO MERCEARIA ADVERTISEMENT 119 FIGURE 3.9 AL ASDIKA’A SUPERMARKET AND ADVERTISEMENTS OF WAY TO SAVE 123 FIGURE 3.10 TIA MARIA TAPIOCARIA AND THE TAPIOCA PANCAKE 130 FIGURE 3.11 INFORMATION FROM COMIDA'S HOMEPAGE 137 FIGURE 3.12 RODIZIO RICO'S FAÇADE 138 FIGURE 3.13 PRETO'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE ANGLOPHONE MARKET 138 FIGURE 3.14 RODIZIO RICO'S PASSADORES 139 FIGURE 3.15 COMIDA AND RODIZIO RICO'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE LUSOPHONE MARKET 141 FIGURE 3.16 FAVELA CHIC MENU 143 FIGURE 3.17 BOBÓ DE CAMARÃO, COCO BAMBOO 144 FIGURE 3.18 TROPICALIA’S MENU 145 FIGURE 3.19 CANELA CAFÉ’S INTERIOR AND FAÇADE 148 FIGURE 3.20 BRAZILIAN GOURMET’S INTERIOR AND FAÇADE 148 FIGURE 3.21 CAFÉ RIO’S INTERIOR AND FAÇADE 148 FIGURE 3.22 BANKETE RESTAURANT: INTERIOR, FAÇADE AND MENU 149 FIGURE 3.23 ADVERTISEMENT FROM BANKETE RESTAURANT AIMED AT BRAZILIAN CLIENTS 151 FIGURE 3.24 BARRACO CAFÉ AND RESTAURANT 158 FIGURE 3.25 BARRACO’S MENU 159 FIGURE 3.26 BARRACO BAR AND RESTAURANT 161 FIGURE 3.27 BARRACO: ‘HOMELY’ FEELING AND ‘HOME’ COOKED FOOD 162 FIGURE 3.28 BELLO CAFE AND A 'PRATO FEITO' 166 FIGURE 3.29 MARINHO, OWNER OF CAFE BRASILEIRO AND HIS ‘PRATO FEITO’ 166 FIGURE 3.30 SABOR BRASILEIRO’S FAÇADE AND BUFFET 166 FIGURE 3.31 GOSTOSA PIZZERIA: INTERIOR, FLYER AND FAÇADE 170 FIGURE 3.32 X BURGER HOUSE’S FLYER 171 FIGURE 3.33 PASTEL AND GUARANÁ FROM KATAVENTO PASTÉIS 171 FIGURE 5.1 GROCERY SHOP IN HARLESDEN HIGH STREET 234 FIGURE 5.2 MERCEARIA BRAZIL 236 FIGURE 5.3 MERCEARIA BRASIL - FAÇADE AND INTERIOR 238 FIGURE 5.4 MERCEARIA BRASIL - MEAT COUNTER 238 FIGURE 5.5 MERCEARIA BRASIL – MONEY TRANSFER AND NOTICE BOARD 238 FIGURE 5.6 SABOR MINEIRO CAFÉ AND RESTAURANT 241 FIGURE 5.7 BRAZILIAN BUSINESSES ACROSS THE ROAD FROM SABOR MINEIRO 242 FIGURE 5.8 BUFFET SERVICE AT SABOR MINEIRO 242 FIGURE 5.9 PEANUT CRUMBLE 266 FIGURE 5.10 SACK