‘Nobody Loves You as Much as Rice’

Stacy Lockerbie

ABSTRACT: struggles to bolster immigration, especially in the Maritime Provinces that exist outside the current flow of migration to central or . Policy aimed at resolving this issue prioritizes practical and economic factors while ignoring the more subtle and personal facets of the decision to migrate. In this article, policy is coupled with human experience to inform new directions in research and implemen- tation. The landscape of food and eating is the centre point of my analysis because shops and restaurants catering to Asian foods play important roles in constructing an environment favourable to immigration. Indeed, my research participants used food as a means of expressing notions of well-being and feelings of ‘home’ in a new setting. With a focus on the foodscapes in Halifax, this article explores the role of food in how Vietnamese immigrants experience life in the Canadian Maritimes.

KEYWORDS: Canadian Maritimes, ethnographic humanism, foodscapes, immigration pol- icy, Vietnamese immigrants

Introduction as , or Vancouver, where larger ethnic communities reside. Policy A great deal of media attention has focused makers have redirected attention to creating on the need to attract immigrants to Canada’s more jobs, lowering the admission fee and Maritime Provinces. Demographic studies advertising the Maritimes globally as an at- indicate that birth rates have dropped and tractive place to migrate. This strategy sim- the Canadian population is on the decline, plifies the migration experience while therefore immigration is necessary to offset ignoring a range of factors that extend be- the aging population. Meyer Burstein, the yond purely economic motives. It is true that cofounder of Metropolis Canada (a policy- the lack of good employment is an impedi- driven organisation dealing with migration ment to retaining immigrants, but this focus and multicultural issues) referred to Cana- is too narrow; it ignores the everyday experi- dian immigration policy as a ‘remarkable ex- ences. Beyond practical motivations, people periment’ in need of a makeover (Burstein are guided by more complex and intuitive 2005). By this he insinuates that current pol- reasons when deciding where to live. The icy haphazardly accepts immigrants and al- question left unasked is, quite simply, how ternatively suggests that policy should do immigrants feel about their life in a new concentrate on attracting those who are setting? In this article, I employ the human- highly skilled. He is also referring to the con- centred principles of ethnography to reveal centration of immigrants outside of the Mari- these complexities. More specifically, I focus times. Of the few immigrants who do come on food as a means to explore the immigra- to Canada, far fewer actually remain tion experience in Halifax, the largest of all in the for long periods of time, with Maritime cities, and bring attention to the many relocating to larger city centres such voices of Vietnamese immigrants beyond the

Anthropology in Action, 14, 1 & 2 (2007): 41–51 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2007.14010205 AiA Stacy Lockerbie

imagination and speculation of policy consumption and purchase have profound makers. influence on the way Vietnamese immigrants ‘It is almost too obvious to dwell on’ experience life in the Canadian Maritimes (Mintz 1986:3) but food preferences and prac- and subsequently carry some weight in the tices, cross-culturally, are central to both self- decision to remain in the region or move to and community definition. The movement of larger city centres. people across borders into new arenas of food topography has the potential to threaten notions of identity and well-being. In this article, the Migration Context landscape of food and eating in Halifax will be examined to capture both the symbolic and real spaces where consumption, identity and power Up until the 1990s, a large portion of the merge for Vietnamese immigrants. A specific fo- Vietnamese immigrating to Canada came as cus will be on accumulated knowledge, emphasiz- refugees and settled in most ing the role of networks and communities to share often Toronto and Montreal, followed by this learning with special attention to the link cities in Southern including London, between food choice and feelings of health and Kitchener, Ottawa, Hamilton and Windsor well-being. This research borrows from geography (Pfeifer 2000). Over the past decade, the the notion of a mental map. This includes the stream of refugees has dwindled and the ma- spaces that are conceptually meaningful for jority of Vietnamese immigrants to Canada recent immigrants by outlining a familiarity are ‘family-class immigrants’, which means with suitable or preferred spaces and places that they are sponsored by family members of food and eating, which grows as immi- who immigrated previously. Not surpris- grants’ knowledge of the city increases and ingly, given the nature of recent immigration social networks expand. patterns, Canadian census statistics indicate Building upon Bell and Valentines’ (1997) that immigrants from Vietnam continue to focus on the geography of food consumption, concentrate in the same areas, leaving the this article also examines the role of food in Atlantic Canadian provinces in deficit (Ar- creating identities based on place (Anderson thur 1999; Pfeifer 2000). It should be noted, 1983). Restaurants, grocery stores and other however, that secondary migration is not the various places of food purchase and con- only avenue used by Vietnamese people en- sumption are significant locations for iden- ter to Canada; the pull factors that attract tity formation both etically as Asian, or Vietnamese people to live amongst family in emically as distinctly Vietnamese. Based on and Southern Ontario are equally these spatial dimensions, I incorporate a matched with factors that steer immigrants multisited approach to map the migration away from . The Maritime foodscape of Vietnamese immigrants in Hali- Provinces face a much larger immigration fax, Nova Scotia. Immigrants, like the exam- problem than policy makers are prepared to ple given by Bell and Valentine of Celiacs, deal with. Historically, Canadian immigra- are among those who have to carefully map tion had racist overtones discouraging those out where they eat. For Celiacs the impor- from or to move to Canada be- tance of space and place are heightened be- cause it was believed that they could not be cause of serious gluten allergies (Bell and assimilated into Canadian society. While the Valentine 1997). I contend that this closely rest of Canada moves towards embracing a parallels the experience of a new immigrant larger and more multicultural sense of iden- seeking to eat in specific ways. Spaces of food tity, it seems that in the Maritimes, people

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are still separated into ‘us’ and ‘others’, ishment (Bourdieu 1984; Lupton 1996; Bell ‘mainstream citizens’ and ‘immigrants’ or and Valentine 1997; Garbaccia 1998; Mintz ‘whites’ and ‘visible minorities’ (Arthur 1999). Cultural constructions favor particular 1999). In this framework, Asian immigrants foods and reject others, despite an environ- become a homogenous group of ‘others’ and ment supporting a variety of possible the life satisfaction and sense of belonging choices. Societies create elaborate systems of of immigrants from this region are accord- acquiring food and notions of cuisine, lend- ingly low. ing themselves to complex conceptions of According to Canadian census, the popu- health and well-being, in addition to con- lation of Halifax Regional Municipality was structing and challenging identities based on 350,111 in 2001, and of these documented ethnicity, social class and nationalism. Food persons, 730 are Vietnamese. These numbers solidifies social relationships, helps to cele- include periphery like Dartmouth, brate special events, commemorates history Bedford and Spryfield, therefore even fewer and reveals relationships of power. Vietnamese persons are visible in Halifax. Immigrants, according to post-colonial lit- This small population coupled with a climate erature, do not lose their cultural traditions heavily influenced by its location near the and blindly assimilate but rather develop Atlantic coast keeps Halifax outside the path continually and mutually with their host cul- of immigration from Vietnam. Temperatures ture (Ashcroft et al. 1995; Bhabha 1995; are consistently below five degrees Celsius Braithwaite 1995). What happens when these in the winter and usually no higher than ideas about food move across borders, resitu- twenty-eight degrees in the summer months. ating themselves in new settings? Recent lit- Miedema and Tastsogolou (2000) note an- erature suggests that migrants blend ideas other factor influencing the retention of im- and practices to create a sort of ‘hybrid diet’ migrants. She spoke to forty immigrant based on a combination of new foods and women in the Maritime region, all of whom those to which they are accustomed (Reid emphasized the role of community involve- 1986; Ashcroft et al. 1995; Garbaccia 1998; ment, both in ‘ethnic’ or ‘multicultural’ and Pilcher 2002). However, immigrants need to in ‘mainstream’ community activities. Such negotiate new identities based on these involvement, with varied levels of success, changes and this invariably influences their helped to break isolation, promote a sense ideas of health and well-being. of activism or regional pride and build social For immigrants, the decision to invest their capital in finding employment from connec- lives in depends on much tions made. Ultimately these women were more than policy makers envision and they searching for ways to create a ‘home’ for have much more to offer to Atlantic Canada themselves in Canada; community involve- beyond augmenting the economy. Adjusting ment is just one key theme, alongside climate to a new environment of food depends on and size of ethnic community. Arguably the accumulating knowledge and upon making landscape of food is another factor, an enor- connections to exchange this learning. De- mously important factor that receives little void of these networks, immigrants are attention. driven to larger city centres, like Toronto or In the struggle to bolster migration, per- Vancouver, where ethnic communities are haps something as essential to life as food well established and food is celebrated goes unnoticed. The anthropological litera- among people of assorted ethnic back- ture affirms a wide range of significance to grounds. Such diversity has worked to recon- food and eating beyond simply seeking nour- struct a plural sense of national identity that

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expands beyond the ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude engaged approach in which I became both that still lingers in the Atlantic Provinces. a silent observer and an advocate or active In one instance, the participant in my participants’ lives and their encapsulates this attitude in a seemingly in- transition to life in the Canadian Maritimes nocent comment quoted in The Coast edito- throughout my research period. I began in rial. He referred to immigrants as ‘people 2004 when I moved from to from away’ and by this, he ignores the history Nova Scotia in order to pursue my Master’s of Canada based on immigration and falsely degree at Dalhousie University, and contin- dichotomizes people as ‘from here’ or ‘from ued to develop over the two years I lived away’ (The Coast, 3 Feb. 2005). Steve Streatch, there. I volunteered in a variety of settings the Mosquodoboit Valley councillor, made with the intension of meeting and learning a similar blunder during a meeting at the about immigrants and international students Halifax Chamber of Commerce. He took is- in Halifax and made a significant network sue with the recommendation to increase im- of connections from these entry points. migration and asks whether ‘we run the risk The first point of access into the Asian com- of diluting our population?’ Instead he offers munity in Halifax was at St. Mary’s Univer- that Atlantic bolster the popula- sity. This campus has a strong English-As-A tion by encouraging couples to have more Second Language program popular among children, keeping their youth from moving students. I signed up to be a conver- out of province, and enticing those who have sation partner and was paired with a Korean left to return (Daily News, 3 Dec. 2004). A student of similar age. Later that year, I was comment such as this serves to separate peo- matched with a Vietnamese student in my ple; and racism at its core is about separation. department at Dalhousie University who It also signifies which ethnic groups fit his needed extra help with her studies. We met idea of a Maritimer, notably those who are on a regular basis to study sociology and white and Christian. It seems a bit of a para- work on her class assignments. My relation- dox for a province so desperate to attract ship to both these students extended well immigrants to separate ‘us’ from ‘others’ beyond practicing English or studying soci- who threaten the national identity. This atti- ology; we went out for coffee, shared meals tude manifests itself in the landscape of food; and became good friends. Finally, I got Pillsbury observed that North American involved with the Host Program at MISA food is foreign ‘but not too foreign’, and (Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Associ- items take on a distinct American flavour, ation). Through this organisation, I was such as Tex Mex (Pillsbury 1998). matched with a new immigrant from China; we met weekly to cook for each other spend time with her family, go shopping for grocer- Methodological Considerations—A ies and visit yard sales. All three women Focus on Experience have become good friends of mine and I have spent a lot of time with each of them talking This research consists entirely of participant about the issues addressed in this article. observation and informal yet purposeful Through these points I have made significant conversations guided by my research ques- snowball networks among informants from tions (Burgess 1991). Inspired by the work of various parts of Asia: I speak some Vietnam- Nancy Scheper-Hughes (1992), I proceeded ese; I habitually shop at Asian grocery stores, with the intension of finding praxis between and attend local celebrations for various community and practice; I took a deliberately Asian holidays, including various events for

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Asian-heritage month in May. As a result of we need immigrants when we cannot even this involvement in the lives of my partici- take care of our own?’ Her boyfriend, also a pants, I hope to elucidate the human side of native-born Nova Scotian, has both a nursing the economically driven issue of migration; and public relations degree, yet works for using food and eating as a window to draw minimum wage as a security guard because out themes of health, identity and feelings he cannot imagine living anywhere else. Poli- of ‘home’. cies driven at attracting immigrants of Euro- This research is also part of a personal jour- pean decent have reasoned that people who ney as I sought to eat in particular ways on share a common race, cuisine and language a limited student budget in a new Canadian will be less of a threat to this regional iden- city. Halifax is very far away and quite differ- tity, and can assimilate more easily, however, ent from the city I had carefully mapped for this attitude has proven to be too simplistic the best and cheapest places to buy healthy (Oakley 2005). Most people who live but food, and the attitudes towards healthy were not born in Halifax, including myself, eating are very different from those I had report that they will always feel like an out- grown to know on . Halifax sider regardless of these exterior commonal- also has a unique historical identity as a lo- ities. cale where freed slaves found solace, but This division between ‘insiders and out- where later they were forcibly removed from siders’ revealed itself in many ways. One of their community in Africville in the 1950s. the most striking sentiments was expressed It is, in short, a locale that seeks to retain to me at a barbeque where several recent immigrants, but has yet to deal adequately immigrants were in attendance. I introduced with . I found that in this myself to one man who told me he preferred new setting, the dichotomy between ‘here’ to keep silent. He also said that he did not and ‘there’ as outlined by Clifford Geertz, want to speak to me because I am ‘white’. I became more apparent as people continue to told him that he was the first person in Hali- question my ethnic background. ‘Where are fax to label me ‘white’ since most Nova Sco- your parents from?’ Or ‘where are you “re- tians note my foreignness. Only then did he ally” from?’ Nova Scotians ask, a question I cautiously reveal some of his experiences of am unaccustomed to being asked. A strong discrimination causing him to be careful with regional identity or Maritime pride built whom he speaks. I realize that this is a rather upon homogeneity (common culture, race extreme reaction, but I asked people casually and language) (Robbins 2002) is prominent throughout the rest of the night ‘are you in Nova Scotia, as young Maritimers leave happy living here in Halifax?’ and to my because of a poor economy or settle on un- surprise, given the mood of the event, most deremployment. Outsiders are erroneously of them said very plainly that no they were perceived as a threat to local employment not. It has become apparent that immigrants rates. Political leaders in the Canadian Mari- have very strong and sometimes varied opin- times marveled at the new global strategies ions about their new lives in Halifax: How as ‘the new frontier’ and the hope for the is it that policy is formed without asking very future and prosperity in Atlantic Canada; simply why immigrants choose to stay or however, such policies have driven down leave? Maritime immigration lacks qualita- wages and exploded the number of working tive research, therefore ethnographic inquiry poor (Workman 2003). A Halifax-born uni- begs attention and policy needs a human versity student articulated the general atti- side. Based on the principles of ethnographic tude to me when she asked me: ‘Why would humanism, which includes the experience

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and agency of immigrants in Halifax, this the Indian grocery stores that Mankekar de- research has been designed and carried out scribes as social spaces that satisfy a ‘curios- with a mindfulness of how it could be trans- ity about their new and not so new neighbors lated into a language that might appeal to enabling them to purchase exotic “ethnic In- the sensibilities of policy makers. I also hope dian” products’, Asian grocery stores in Hali- that this approach might also inform other fax also serve as a educational tool for anthropologists working towards circulating Canadians of European descent (Mankekar these ideas outside scholastic circles, thus 2005: 202). Non-Asian customers often fre- bridging the gap between academic and pol- quent one store, for instance, located near icy-driven research. the university campus. The storeowner was happy to answer my questions about the re- quired ingredients for Tom Yum soup and Ethnographic Foodscapes made special note of the products most often purchased by non-Asian customers. There By conducting ethnographic research in gro- are some limitations to this argument, as cery stores and restaurants, I am recognizing Pierre Bourdieu would readily note that the them as key social spaces or nodes in which desire for the exploration of world cuisine is to explore issues of transnationalism some- very tightly enmeshed with social class and what akin to Mankekar’s research on Indian the process of acquiring cultural capital grocery stores in California (Mankekar 2005). (Bourdieu 1984). Many people would never Shops and restaurants play an important role dream of giving up classic pub fare for Chi- in retaining immigrants for three reasons. nese food or sushi. However unbalanced First of all, they provide a place for making throughout the social strata, it is part of the networks and exchanging knowledge. One larger process of creating a landscape of of my research participants, the sociology greater tolerance and social understanding. student, has done most of her networking at This can be exemplified by an occasion when the Asian grocery store. This is where she my I invited my volunteer match, along with finds out about events such as the Chinese her husband and child, over for lunch. I new year party (which corresponds with the cooked a curry-and-rice dish and can recall Vietnamese new year) and found people to how delighted they were to watch me cook. participate in interviews for her class assign- ‘You cook like an Asian person,’ they in- ments. Ethnic grocery stores ‘invoke and pro- formed me, because I did not use any recipes duce powerful discourses of home, family or measuring cups as did most of the Canadi- and community’ (Mankekar 2005: 210). Sec- ans they had met, not even to make the rice. ond, these stores provide food that fits immi- Such rigid cooking techniques were very for- grant ideas of health and well-being. Food eign to them and they were so delighted to is very intimately connected to health in Viet- see me cook in a manner similar to what nam, from foods that you should eat or avoid they were accustomed to. I never consciously when sick or the numerous dishes that I been modified the manner in which I cooked for told are ‘good for your health’. them then or on any other occasion. Al- Lastly, it serves to dehomogenize or ex- though seemingly inconsequential, this pand the perimeters of the Atlantic Canadian event is a powerful symbol of cultural bor- diet by teaching people about different foods rowing and exchange rather than assimila- and incorporating a much wider range of tion that has been the focus of determining what it means to be a Maritimer. Similar to who makes a ‘successful’ immigrant.

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Vietnamese Immigrants in Halifax of bamboo. It is the traditional food associ- ated with the Tet holiday in Vietnam. This food, in which rice is the main component, ‘What do you miss most about home?’ I is a both symbol of national identity and asked another Vietnamese student at Dal- linked to health and well-being. A well- housie University. ‘The food’, she answered known folk story informs us that prince Lang instinctively and paused before adding ‘and Lieu, in a competition to inherit the thrown, my boyfriend’. This straightforward, yet was visited by a genie and given the recipe evocative initial statement clearly demon- for these humble cakes, designed to replicate strates the compelling relationship Vietnam- the and the sky. The reigning king, ese people have with food. Indeed, it is Hung the Sixth, had each of his twenty-two closely connected to every facet of their lives sons cook for him, and despite the fact that in Vietnam: it is featured in folk culture in- the others set out to the farthest corners of cluding songs, stories and holiday celebra- the earth to combine the most exotic flavours tions; is central to both regional and national in a dish that would please him, he chose identities; and is intimately connected to the simple dish created by Lang Lieu, made their feelings of health and well-being. The with locally grown ingredients and designed title of this article, ‘nobody loves you as much in shapes to represent harmony with the cos- as rice’ is a folk expression taught to me by mic order (Mai Ly Quang 2002; Avieli 2005). my friends during my internship in Vietnam This food and its associated folklore are re- in 2002 and heard again on my return visit minders of Vietnamese humility and lack of in 2005, when I conducted research on the desire for material things: It was the man changing landscape of food and eating. This who avoided frivolity who prospered. It was expression, in its simplicity, speaks to a lot a sign from the heavens advocating regional of things about Vietnamese culture; rice is pride and a guide to live in harmony with deeply connected to good health and well- what the fertile land of Vietnam already pro- being, as well as a symbol of national identity vides or as Avieli wrote ‘the legend defines and a feeling of home. It connects all people, the ideal Vietnamese king as one who nur- from the women in the rice fields in their tures the nation, and as one who feeds it conical hats, to the student who has traveled with rice’ (Avieli 2005: 175). ‘When eating miles from home to study in the city. Ulti- the humble rice cakes, the Vietnamese make mately, rice, a staple in their diet and funda- a point about their preference for Vietnamese mental to a entire cuisine, is a symbol of being culture and artifacts over imported items, as Vietnamese, similar to the way Qingzhen,a luxurious as those may be’ (Avieli 2005: 177). very specific way of eating, is equated with Historically, these cakes are also connected being Muslim in China (Gillette 2005: 110). to building strength and promoting health In the research of Thomas, Vietnamese immi- and well-being. Because they are preserved grants expressed that Pho, the quintessential and more filling than the standard Vietnam- Vietnamese dish, is what ‘makes them Viet- ese fare, these cakes were used as food ra- namese’ while living in (Thomas tions for soldiers during the various periods 2004). of warfare. One cake provides an entire meal Emblematic of this strong connection to nutritionally in one small and compact item food in Vietnam is Bahn Tet, a combination (containing a variety of vitamins, carbohy- of sticky rice, beans and pork wrapped in drates and proteins). It was rice that led Viet- banana leaves and tied carefully with strings nam to victory over more powerful and

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technologically advanced outsiders and ene- 43 percent compared again to Filipinos who mies during periods of war (Avieli 2005). were 89 percent and 78 percent, respectively. Vietnamese food, smells, sounds and fla- The Vietnamese community provides an vour create this sense of nostalgia, and well- ideal forum to explore the differences be- being. During my time in Vietnam, people tween the construction of their ethnicity ‘eti- were genuinely upset that they could no cally’ as Asian and ‘emically’ as distinctly longer eat chicken due to the threat of avian Vietnamese. Using bubble tea as an example, influenza—‘Vietnamese chicken is the best’, it is impressive to note that it is served in a or so I was told. Not only did it perceivably Vietnamese restaurant despite the fact that have more taste, it had added nutritional it is not a Vietnamese dish. With the excep- value because it was grown in a natural set- tion of Hanoi, the most cosmopolitan city in ting. These notions are transferred to a West- Vietnam where bubble tea is marketed to ern setting in the process of immigration. tourists and young middle-class youth, bub- Sentiments described to me mirror those de- ble tea is absent from the food landscape in scribed by Australian immigrants meeting Vietnam. It seems as though this restaurant Vietnamese food in a new setting. The food embraces a much broader ethnic identity. in Vietnam is ‘not only more authentic, but Not only are they ‘Vietnamese’, which in it- qualitatively better’ (Thomas 2004: 58). West- self incorporates a wide range of tastes span- ern food is grown with too many pesticides ning from the salty taste in the North, to the and becomes devoid of its smells and fla- much sweeter cuisine in the South, but also vours through processing and packaging. they are ‘Asian’ and serve foods that expand The qualities that make Vietnamese food so beyond Vietnamese borders. I discovered a healthy (‘good for your health’ was a descrip- similar example while dining at a Thai res- taurant. The server was a Vietnamese tion provided with all the Vietnamese food woman. This conflated identity is striking I was offered during my stay there) are seem- because during my time living with a host ingly absent from Western food. family in Vietnam, I cooked Thai food and I chose to focus specifically on Vietnamese no one would eat it because the taste was immigrants and students initially because of too unfamiliar, but while living in Canada my own experience and extensive travel in the difference between the two countries is the region. The stories and experiences with seemingly blurred. food and the sense of pride and perceived This binary sense of self or fusion of etic superiority of Vietnamese tastes piqued my and emic identities became particularly sig- interest. How are these feelings made com- nificant at a small party I attended for the mensurable in new settings? staff of the Japanese restaurant ‘Momoya’. Statistics complied on Asian immigrants in Owned by a Chinese couple and staffed by Canada by Jodey Derouin (2004) the research a range of students and immigrants of Asian officer of the metropolis multicultural pro- decent, the restaurant caters to an etic under- gram, indicate that Vietnamese immigrants standing of Asia as one large homogenous have the lowest level of life satisfaction in group. This phenomenon is not confined to Canada, with only 73 percent stating they this restaurant. Despite the plethora of Japa- are satisfied with their lives compared to 86 nese restaurants in Halifax, most are in fact percent of Filipinos or 83 percent of East Indi- run or owned by Koreans or Chinese. This ans. The Vietnamese have the lowest sense understanding has been confirmed in casual of belonging to Canada at only 65 percent or conversation throughout my stay in Halifax an ethnic group in Canada at a very low when people have said things to me like ‘the

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Asian face looks the same, I cannot distin- pality, with only one in the downtown cen- guish from which country.’ This is a striking rte, I wonder, is Halifax ready to embrace contrast to the particular identities revealed this larger sense of identity? Pho is only mar- at the staff party where people identified ginally featured here, a lunchtime special ab- themselves to each other very specifically as sent from the dinner menu. In Ottawa, store- from Hong Kong or Beijing, Seoul or Bussan. window de´cor in Vietnamese restaurants at- Also notable is that not one staff member of tempts to entice customers with advertise- Momoya is Japanese. It is interesting to have ments of Pho; some have chosen to serve a landscape that accommodates Japanese cui- only that dish. The Vietnamese restaurant sine but does not represent the Asian popula- in Halifax, on the other hand, has window tion, which is not overwhelmingly from designs and advertisements on the table fea- Japan. turing bubble tea. While Canadian immigra- These new spaces and new styles of eating tion is under scrutiny, with a plethora of that expand beyond what is traditionally Canadian anthropologists devoting their en- Vietnamese, create an ‘intercultural space ergy to this issue, immigration in Halifax as where tastes are reconstituted and re-imag- seen in the landscape of food and eating, I ined in relation to the wider society’ (Thomas would argue, is in crisis by comparison to 2005). Vietnamese immigrants must adjust other Canadian cities. to how Maritime Canadians perceive them as part of this homogenous group from Asia, thus challenging the notions of being Viet- Conclusion namese, a national identity that distinguishes itself very clearly from neighbouring coun- tries. I do not mean to suggest that the landscape of In the Australian case study of first- and food is the only, or even the most prominent second-generation Vietnamese immigrants, factor, in an immigrant’s decision to stay in Vietnamese food had transformed the land- Halifax. Indeed the picture is far more com- scape; Vietnamese people, people of Asian plicated. The beauty of ethnographic enquiry and European descent and Australians alike is that it draws attention to the nuances and enjoyed Pho, rice noodle soup with beef, everyday experiences overlooked in policy- bean sprouts and mint leaves. ‘Vietnamese driven research. Food is at the very centre food becomes “Australianized” and Austra- of Vietnamese life; in both ritual and in rou- lian food becomes “Vietnamized” ’ (Thomas tine it is imbued with potent meaning. Sym- 2004: 54). Similarly, in Ottawa, or in my bolic meanings of food create a sense of self hometown of , Pho restaurants are and community and diet is deeply connected plentiful and well frequented. In these we to ways of creating and maintaining good have the borrowing and exchange, the medi- health, all very integral to how a person expe- ation of power, rather than a one-way trans- riences life in a new setting. By drawing at- fer or Westernization of material culture. tention to how identity is constructed and/ Similar to what Watson (1997) and Thomas or labeled in these spaces for the purchase (2004) term ‘localization’, the entrance and and consumption of Asian foods, we can acceptance of Vietnamese food on the Aus- posit some theories to shed light on the afore- tralian market creates a new culture, a com- mentioned statistics compiled by Metropo- mon ground for greater social under- lis’s ethnic diversity survey, which indicates standing. With only a handful of Vietnamese that Vietnamese immigrants are generally restaurants in the Halifax Regional Munici- dissatisfied or lack a sense of belonging in

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Canada (Derouin 2005). Although this re- Bhabha, H. 1995. ‘Cultural Diversity and Cultural search is explicitly critical of policy, I hope Differences’, in B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and that ethnographic research such as this can H. Tiffin (eds) The Post Colonial Studies Reader, continue to develop with dexterity and be of New York: Routledge, 206–209. use in practical settings. Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Cambridge, MA: Har- Aside from the definite set of questions vard University Press. this research was designed to draw attention Burgess, R. G. 1994. Studies in Qualitative Method- to, I hope that it also gives some voice to a ology, Vol. 4, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. particular set of people with different experi- Braithwaite, E. 1995. ‘Creolization in Jamaica’ in ences. Asian-descendant citizens are typi- B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin, The Post cally forgotten in both academic and popular Colonial Studies Reader, eds. B. New York: literature on ‘race’, because their ‘otherness’ Routledge, 202–205. is usually described as stemming from cul- Burstein, M. 2005. ‘Reconfiguring Immigration tural or ethnic differences, in opposition to Policy: The Domestic Implications of Global those of African decent, whose differences Change’, in Finding Balance: Citizenship, Immi- are usually recognized as ‘racial’. Whether gration and Security, Mackay Lecture Series based on religion, culture, language or ap- 2004–2005, 3 March 2005. pearance, creating this distinction between Derouin, J. 2004. ‘Asians and Multiculturalism in ‘us’ and ‘others’ is at the very heart of immi- Canada’s Three Major Cities: Some Evidence from the Ethnic Diversity Survey’, Our Diverse gration policy as well as Canadian miscon- Cities 1: 58–62. ceptions about immigrants; and racism at its Gabaccia, D. 1998. We Are What We Eat—Ethnic very core is about separation. Food and the Making of , London: Har- vard University Press. Stacy Lockerbie is currently a doctoral candi- Gillette, M. 2005. ‘Children’s Food and Islamic date in the Department of Anthropology at Dietary Restrictions’, in J. Watson and M. Cald- McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. well (eds) The Cultural Politics of Food and Her email is: [email protected]. Eating: A Reader, Oxford: Blackwell Publish- ing, 106–121. Lupton, D. 1996. Food, Body and the Self, Thousand References Oaks CA: Sage. Mai Ly Quang 2002. Vietnam Legends and Folk Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflec- Tales, Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers. tions on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Mankekar, P. 2005. ‘India Shopping: Indian Gro- London: Verso. cery Stores and Transnational Configurations Arthur, R. 1999. The Immigrants Handbook of Nova of Belonging’, in J. Watson and M. Caldwell Scotia (Touch Base in collaboration with the (eds) The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating: A Multi Cultural Association of Nova Scotia), Reader, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 197–214. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Miedema, B. and E. Tastsoglou 2000. ‘But Where Ashcroft, B., G. Griffiths & H. Tiffin 1995. ‘Intro- Are You From, Originally?: Immigrant duction’, B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin Women and Integration in the Maritimes’, At- (eds) The Post Colonial Studies Reader, New lantis 24 (2): 82–91. York: Routledge, 183–185. Mintz, S. 1986. Sweetness and Power, New York: Avieli, N. (2005) ‘Vietnamese New Year Cakes: Penguin Books. Iconic Festive Dishes and Contested National ——— 1999. Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom— Identity’, Ethnology XLIV (2): 167–187. Excursions into Eating, Culture and the Past, Bos- Bell, D. and G. Valentine 1997. Consuming Geogra- ton: Beacon Press. phies: We Are Where We Eat, London: Oakley R. 2005. ‘Mistaken Identities: Canada’s Routledge. Search for White Christians, ca 1947–1959’,

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