MASARYK UNIVERSITY OF BRNO
FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES
Food as a Transcultural Metaphor
Food Imagery and Ethnocultural Identities in Contemporary
Multicultural Women Writing in Canada
Katarína Hinnerová
Brno 2007 Supervisor: Mgr. Klára Kolinská, M.A., Ph.D.
Author’s Statement:
I declare that I have worked on this diploma thesis independently, using only the
primary and secondary sources listed in Works Cited.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Mgr. Klára Kolinská, M.A., Ph.D. for her kind help, valuable
advice and inspiring comments. Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 1. Contemporary Canadian Literature Within the Context of Multiculturalism and
Transculturalism
1.1. Canadian Policy of Multiculturalism And Its Reflection in Contemporary
Canadian Literature…………………………………………………………….7
1.2. Multiculturalism vs. Transculturalism—From Cultural Ghettoization to
Cross cultural Interaction……………………………………………………..15
1.3. Re defining Canadian Ethnocultural Identities……………………………….22
2. Contemporary Food Discourses—Shedding Light on Food Imagery
2.1. Food Studies as a Reflection of Social and Cultural Developments………….26
2.2. Food and Identity—A Crucial Relationship…………………………………..33
3. Food Imagery and Contemporary Canadian Women Authors of Multicultural
Backgrounds—Expressions of Ethnocultural Identities
3.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………...37
3.2. Food as an Expression of Ethnocultural Identity and Cultural Barriers
in Mary Di Michele’s “Life is Theatre”………………………………………42
3.3. Food and the Conflict of the Traditional and the Assimilated
in Uma Parameswaran’s “Tara’s Mother in law”…………………………….45
3.4. Tasting the Past in Dionne Brand’s In Another Place, Not Here ...... 48
3.5. Exile and the Meaning of a Cake in Marlene Nourbese Philip’s
“Burn Sugar”………………………………………………………………….50 3.6. Sharon H. Nelson’s “The Woman’s Testimony”—Cooking and Gender
Roles in Immigrant Experience……………………………………………….53
3.7. Food, Politics and Human Psyche in Kristjana Gunnars’ The Prowler ………56
3.8. Sharing Food as a Transcultural Act in Beth Brant’s “Food and Spirits”…….59
3.9. Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach—Food as a Means of Switching
Between Cultural Identities…………………………………………………...62
3.10. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….....64
4. Food as a Transcultural Metaphor in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms ………65
4.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………...66
4.2. Hiromi Goto as a Transcultural Writer……………………………………….67
4.3. Transcultural Aspects of Food in Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms …………….72
4.4. Transculturalism, Food and Stories…………………………………………...85
4.5. Other Food Issues in Chorus of Mushrooms ………………………………….89
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...... 92
Resumé…………………………………………………………………………………95
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….97
Introduction
Contemporary Canadian literary landscape is composed of the multitude of voices
speaking from the diverse ethnocultural spheres and from the spaces in between
cultures. These voices reflect changing attitudes to Canadian identities—they speak
against homogeneity, uniformity and exclusionary structures. They apprehend the fact
that identities are fluid as a consequence of cross cultural exchanges. Such interactions
are a premise of transculturalism, which is considered by many a concept more fitting
for the reality of clashing cultures than the official policy of multiculturalism. The
experience of multiple cultural traditions and the sociopolitical discourse surrounding it
have found their way into the Canadian literary output, and is often commented on
through food imagery. Food is an important social phenomenon, an integral part of
culture and the means of creating, affecting and making statements about one’s identity.
According to Kim Chernin, food is also a medium through which women perceive,
experience and materialize their identity searches. Therefore, Canadian women authors
use food imagery when they want to make statements about ethnicity, culture and
identity/express their ethnocultural identities.
The main objective of my thesis is to prove that food imagery is an efficient means
of conveying contemporary discourse on ethnocultural identities which is tending
towards transcultural perspectives, and to highlight food’s potential to establish the
awareness of diversity, challenge exclusionary attitudes and stimulate cross cultural
interaction. My observations and conclusions are based on the analysis of Hiromi
Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms . The novel features three generations of the Tonkatsu
family and their attitudes towards their Japanese heritage, which are represented by their
food habits. The analysis of the novel is put into context of Canada’s discourse on
multiculturalism and transculturalism, as well as into the context of several other
1
examples of multicultural women’s writing in Canada which employs food imagery to
comment on issues of culture, ethnicity, identity, gender and politics.
The first part of my thesis provides a description of Canada’s specific social,
political and cultural milieu which is produced by its unique treatment of multicultural
reality. Knowledge of the forces which have created, and which are still creating this
situation, as well as the results of their operation, is necessary to understand the literary
works analyzed in this thesis. These writings should not be disconnected from the
Canadian sociopolitical discourse since it is partly responsible for making their authors
heard—the official policy of multiculturalism has not only triggered the public debate,
but has also brought about funding of literature of other than the English and French
background. On the other hand, the inadequacies of the official policy, namely the
consequent compartmentalization of the society, have inspired these authors to propose
different attitudes to the clashing of cultures within multicultural environments, one of
them being the concept of transculturalism. On the whole, the sociopolitical discourse
has a crucial effect on Canadian identities, since it has brought the diversity of Canada’s
ethnic and cultural composition into the fore of public debate. Canadians have come to
perceive themselves as multicultural. And this in turn affects how Canadian write about
themselves.
In this thesis, the contemporary discourses on culture, identity and ethnicity are
analyzed through food imagery. Food as a literary device is used for various purposes,
and the diversity can be illustrated and apprehended through considering the scope of
food studies. Therefore, the second part of the thesis is devoted to the issues discussed
in present day food studies. A substantial portion of food research is devoted to the
relation between food and cultural identity, food and ethnicity and other issues
surrounding it, such as immigration, globalization, consumerism and transculturalism as
2
well. However, food studies also engage in analyzing links between food and gender, or
food and power and politics. One can find all these issues debated in literary works of
the authors chosen for this thesis. Awareness of the treatment of the above mentioned
questions within food studies can inform the analysis of the literary works in a valuable
way.
Even though the main interest of this thesis lies in considering the transcultural
potential of food imagery, this usage of food in contemporary Canadian literature is not
the only one and should not be analyzed in isolation. To employ transcultural approach
in this thesis, I have decided to cross the boundaries of a various cultures making up the
Canadian literary landscape, and to have a look at how food imagery is used to illustrate
and comment on developments in issues of culture, identity and ethnicity. This thesis
cannot, of course, contain all the writing referring to food in contemporary Canadian
literature. Therefore, inspired by Kim Chernin’s claim that food is “the principal way
the problems of female being come to expression in women’s lives” (qtd. in Blodgett), I
have decided to focus on women authors and to choose writers from various
ethnocultural backgrounds. In this way, I can provide at least a partial illustration of
the variety of female voices comprising Canadian literature, as well as the diversity of
food imagery employment. When reading this section, one can notice that all the
authors acknowledge their ethnic identity in their writing, which is the prerequisite of
adopting transcultural attitudes. The works of the last two authors of this section move
towards transcultural ideals, which parallels the development in the present day
sociocultural discourse where the concept of transculturalism is gradually replacing
official multiculturalism. These authors and their transcultural use of food imagery also
provide a link with the following section of the thesis.
3
The previous part has rendered an outline of food imagery used in writings by
diverse ethnocultural female voices, and several works analyzed there have introduced
transcultural attitudes to the positions in between cultures. Nevertheless, I have chosen
one specific work to show how transcultural perspectives are better suited for coping
with dual/multiple cultural heritages, and how this message can be communicated
through food imagery. Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms is a prime example of
transcultural fiction and also of a multifarious use of food imagery. Food references are
present in situations where transcultural acts are depicted, but they also occur in
situations where issues such as gender, colonialism or ethnic stereotypes are addressed.
Transcultural acts in the novel entwine communication through food with
communication through stories, thus hinting at the danger of superficial attitude to other
cultures and creation of stereotypes if one sticks only to temporary experience of
“tasting” the other through “exotic” food. Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms deals with a
variety of current questions concerning culture, identity, and ethnicity and introduces the
transcultural stance to these questions. And what’s more, Hiromi Goto effectively uses
food imagery to handle them.
While writing my diploma thesis, I had to come to terms with terminology
considering culture, ethnicity and identity in relation to literature, that is in no way clear
and fixed. The most difficult task was finding a way to address the group of authors
chosen for the thematic analysis. Canadian literature is a collage of voices from various
ethnocultural groups. In some literary interpretations, the terms “ethnic” and “minority’
are used to describe authors of varied ethnic origins. In my thesis I would like to avoid
these labels, since they sometimes tend to produce stereotypical perception of these
writers. As Kristjana Gunnars claims in her interview with Janice Williamson,
4
the term ‘ethnic’ has an ingredient which, …, separates the ethnic person from
the supposedly mainstream person. When people call you ethnic writer,
they’re saying, you may be here and OK. I accept that you’re here, but you
come from somewhere else, don’t really belong, and you’re no doubt going
back somewhere else (102 103).
Such connotations of “ethnic” as foreign, immigrant and Other have to be disrupted.
Each person is ethnically located, and therefore, each author is ethnic. This means that
“ethnic” should not be used to label only certain groups of authors. In case of the term
“minority” authors, the label implies there is a certain powerful majority, and it
disregards the power of the authors stamped in such a way. Throughout the thesis, I
prefer to use the term “authors of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds” and its
modifications, so as not to fall into restrictive labeling. This phrase indicates the variety
of authors making up the Canadian literary landscape without creating stereotypes about
their writing, making indirect statements about their impact on Canadian literature and
disconnecting them from their Canadianness. I use the term “ethnocultural” to
emphasize the relationship between culture and ethnicity, and to exclude the obsolete
connection between ethnicity and biology. I also employ terms “multicultural writing”
and “multicultural writers” which imply the varied cultural backgrounds Canadian
authors speak from and are influenced by. These terms are also based on the assumption
that each individual, each writer is a conglomerate of identities.
In my thesis, I refer to a variety of sociological studies about food as well as to
several reviews of books on food studies to introduce the crucial food issues which can
consequently be found in the analyses of literary works. To relate these works to the
sociocultural climate they have originated in, a wide range of materials on Canadian
policy of multiculturalism was used to provide me with a background for the Canadian
5
milieu. A number of sources was consulted to clarify concepts such as identity,
ethnicity, or transculturalism. As there are few analyses of the chosen literary works
available in Czech libraries, I refer to several internet sources to support my
assumptions. All the sources are cited in the Works Cited section.
6
1. Contemporary Canadian Literature Within the Context of Multiculturalism and
Transculturalism
1.1. Canadian Policy of Multiculturalism And Its Reflection in Contemporary
Canadian Literature
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the
Government of Canada to foster the recognition
and appreciation of the diverse cultures of
Canadian society and promote the reflection
and the evolving expressions of those cultures.
Excerpt from the Canadian Multiculturalism Act
(qtd. in “Canadian Diversity: Respecting our Differences”)
Canada is a country which has made multiculturalism its national policy, thus
affecting the functioning of its society in all its spheres, literature including, in a way
different from other multicultural societies. Since 1972 a broad framework of laws and
policies has been created in order to support Canada's positive approach to pluralism on
an official level, and the result is a specific sociocultural milieu, marked by recent
discussions on drawbacks of codifying something that has always been a distinctive
feature of Canada. The discourse on multiculturalism, its principles, and on the political
formulation of it with all its advantages and inadequacies shapes the way Canadians
perceive themselves, and consequently influences the way Canadians write about their
identities. Knowledge of the political and social forces which have stirred and still stir
the Canadian society can shed light on literary works written in its multicultural climate.
7
The Canadian policy of multiculturalism was a public and formal recognition of
an already existing pluralism of Canadian society. Multiculturalism as a coexistence of
a spectrum of various cultures within a group or a society has always been a fact of
Canadian life—as Jean Burnet implies in “Myths and Multiculturalism”, Canada has
never been a monocultural or even a bicultural country (qtd. in Crawford). Such
pluralism is a result of the presence of a wide range of First Nation societies and
numerous communities created by recurrent immigration flows. However,
contemporary Canada is not the only model of multiculturalism in the world. It can be
argued that all human societies throughout history have been multicultural because
differences based on ethnicity, gender or occupation have continually been represented
using manifold cultural codes (“Multiculturalism”). Yet, multiculturalism is essentially
understood as a sociocultural manifestation of multiethnicity. In this respect, Canada is
a typical example of a multicultural society with ethnocultural communities comprising
the English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, Ukrainian, North
American Indian, Dutch, Polish, East Indian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Welsh, Jewish,
Russian, Filipino, Métis, Swedish, Hungarian, American, Greek, Spanish, Jamaican,
Danish and the Vietnamese (“Population by selected ethnic origins”). It is
understandable that such a varied ethnocultural makeup of the country has a substantial
impact on how it is perceived by its citizens. In her book The Next Canada, Myrna
Kostash illustrates the general attitude towards multiculturalism in Canada with the
results of a 1995 survey in which “68 per cent of Canadians agreed with the observation
that ‘on the whole, immigration is a good thing for Canada.’ 28 ” (150), and also by the
actual absence of the question about attitude to multiculturalism and immigration in the
1998 Annual Poll published by Maclean’s magazine (ibid.) Both cases imply that the
multicultural aspect of Canadian society has come to be appreciated as a natural, if not a
8
crucial, feature of Canada, hence as a defining influence on the collective identity.
Regardless of its legal and political version, multiculturalism has always been the
essence of Canadian society and most of its members have come to acknowledge this
fact.
“Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework” was the name of the Canada’s
first official policy of multiculturalism and it was announced in 1971 by the then Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau. The policy was developed in reaction to several factors. First,
it was created to deal with ethnic minorities’ reactions to the establishment of the Royal
Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The Commission was appointed to
recommend solutions to the increasingly problematic English French relations.
However, the commissioners came across more than just the English French issues.
During the hearings across the country, spokespersons of other ethnic groups protested
against the secondary status of their affairs and argued that the policy of assimilation
was both unjust and a failure. They wanted their cultures to be recognized as valuable
contributions to the Canadian society and as equal with the cultures of the British and
the French. The pressure which had been developed by these groups initiated the shift
from biculturalism to multiculturalism. The second force acting in favor of the official
multiculturalism was the liberalization of Canada’s immigration policy. The
Immigration Act of 1967 introduced an immigration system that “did not discriminate
on the basis of race, national origin, religion, or culture and was thus less discriminatory
against non Europeans that had previously been the case” (qtd. in Esses and Gardner).
The increase in the salience of ethnicity, which was an outcome of this system, led to
recognizing the official policy of multiculturalism as the sensible next step in the
acceptance of this diversity. The recognition of the inevitability of pluralism was
closely connected to the third force lying behind the promotion of the multicultural
9
policy, which was the debate on Canadian identity. Multiculturalism has become the
means of establishing the uniqueness of Canada and of differentiating it from other
countries, mainly the United States. Pierre Trudeau declared in 1972 that “We become
less like others; less susceptible to cultural, social or political envelopment by others”
(qtd. in Esses and Gardner). Multiculturalism was adopted as a distinguishing
constituent of Canadian collective identity and national self definition, and the official
policy which arose from the interplay of several social and political forces within
Canada was designed to acknowledge this reality and to enhance equal participation of
all ethnocultural communities by law.
The Canadian Multicultural Act of 1971 pursued transformation of the country’s
formerly assimilative character into one that appreciates diversity of Canada’s ethnic
and cultural anatomy, and it sought to achieve this change by following the principles of
equality, pluralism and human rights. Keith McLeod has summarized the 1971 Act “as
a policy that (1) ensures equality of status, (2) defines the essence of the Canadian
identity as pluralistic, (3) offers citizens a choice of lifestyles, and (4) protects civil and
human rights” (qtd. in Crawford). The purpose of the Act was to encourage the
members from different cultural backgrounds to maintain their uniqueness. In 1988 the
“Act for the Preservation and Enhancement of Multiculturalism in Canada” was passed,
containing some minor organizational amendments and including objectives such as
preserving and sharing cultural heritages, recognizing multiculturalism as a fundamental
characteristic of Canadian identity, promoting full and equal participation and equal
treatment of individuals of all origins, as well as advocating understanding and
creativity which arise from interaction between different cultures (Esses and Gardner).
Since its announcement in 1971, the policy of multiculturalism has changed because of
the increased presence of visible minorities. At first the policy was introduced to
10
answer the needs of European immigrant groups, and was thus realized through cultural
programs and heritage education. Gradually, the policy has expanded to involve
fighting prejudice and discrimination and promoting equal participation of all
individuals. At any rate, the policy of multiculturalism has made culture and ethnic
identity a political issue articulated by law and debated in public space, and so it brought
about certain positive changes by establishing the different cultural communities and
affirming the concrete reality of Canada on a governmental level (Cuccioletta 7). The
essence of multiculturalism which is based on equality, pluralism, interaction and
human and civil rights should not be denounced as worthless.
Despite the positive ideals multiculturalism is based on, the multicultural policy
of Canada has always faced criticism from various fronts.
For example, in English speaking Canada some worried that multiculturalism
would divide Canadians rather than unite them. Others feared that
multiculturalism would erode the rich British heritage of English speaking
Canada. Many in Quebec protested that multiculturalism was designed to
undermine Quebec nationalism. (“About Canada”)
The rise in the number of members of visible minorities has shifted the interest from the
recognition and preservation of cultural heritages towards the issues of equal
opportunities and has brought forward the problem of prejudice and discrimination.
Maintaining the unique cultural practices instead of assimilating to the mainstream
Canadian culture may be a difficult feat considering that the differences in culture and
beliefs are often a source of conflict between communities. The promotion and
preservation of the variety of unique cultural backgrounds is related to yet another
problematic dimension of extending multiculturalism to policies, which is the potential
compartmentalization of the society resulting from the rigid keeping of individual
11
cultural traditions and conserving the cultural boundaries, which can hinder cross cultural
communication and interaction. The effect of multicultural policies may in fact be in
opposition to the notion of multiculturalism as such—the policies may actually lead to
cultural segregation and conflicts. Although multiculturalism as a notion is principally
value free and, as various surveys prove it, seen as a positive fact of Canadian life, its
operation in the political and legislative realm has aroused legitimate criticism from
various points of reference.
The demographic shifts and the social, political and economic practices
represented by the Canadian Multicultural Act have become reflected in the Canadian
literary output. Smaro Kamboureli observes that the emergence of multicultural
anthologies which appeared in the mid 1970s and mid 1980s is related to the arrival of
official multiculturalism and constitutes the first intensive development of multicultural
writing:
As it emerges from the Other side of Canadian literature’s cultural syntax, this
writing brings into play what was previously disregarded. It makes present what
rendered it absent; it brings into relief the boundaries that separated it from the
mainstream tradition. And so it stands on the threshold of what Canadian literature
has become since those strangers at our gates’ took it upon themselves to cross the
boundary separating those who are silenced, who are written about, from those who
give voice to themselves…Their voices sometimes converge, sometimes remain
dissonant. Whatever the case may be, these writers set out to legitimate ethnic
voices in their own terms, but also in terms that reflect the given cultural and
political climate. (qtd. in Johnston)
The increased presence of these voices has also been made possible due to funding,
awards or conferences, which have all brought the issues of previously marginalized
12
authors into the fore of public attention. These authors have begun to question and
disrupt homogeneity of Canadian identity. Speaking from the position in between
cultures, they contradict unified metanarrative of nation and narratives of inclusion or
exclusion which suppress difference and multiplicity of voices. The previous Canadian
metanarrative came out of a particular set of contradictions, namely “French Canada
against English Canada, the regions against the federal center, and Canada against the
United States” (Johnston). However, present experience need to be expanded to include
contradictions concerning race, class, ethnicity, gender, globalism, postcolonialism and
many more. Canadian literary production of today reflects a much broader part of
Canadian society; the number of writers from groups of other than English or French
heritage, as well as the scope of experience depicted by them, have expanded
substantially. Many authors have become heard thanks to the Canadian Multicultural Act
and so they have set out to re define Canada’s unified story and turn it into an
commixture of competing traditions.
Multiculturalism has always been a reality of Canadian life and has therefore
become an inseparable part of the Canadian collective identity. The policy of
multiculturalism, passed for the first time in 1971, was an official recognition of the
pluralistic social make up and it was a result of the working of the multiple forces such as
the tense English French relations or the changes in immigration system. The principles
the multicultural laws and policies have been built upon, namely the appreciation of
pluralism, the equality and tolerance, have remained the same because they represent the
very essence of multiculturalism as such. The contribution of the Canadian policy of
multiculturalism lies in the public acknowledgement of these principles and, specifically,
in “allowing room for the aspirations of those who do not happen to be of British or
French origin” (Hutcheon, Introduction 15), making it possible for the writers of various
13
ethnocultural backgrounds to speak for those previously marginalized. Despite all the
positives, multiculturalism in the form of an official policy is inadequate and limited in
many respects, and has therefore been a target of substantial criticism. The most relevant
critical voices claim that multicultural policies can actually be harmful to the
multicultural ideal and produce ghettoization of cultures instead of tolerance and
interaction between them. Contemporary multicultural women writers of Canada are
aware of the discourse on multiculturalism with all its controversies and reflect it in their
works.
14
1.2. Multiculturalism vs. Transculturalism—
From Cultural Ghettoization to Cross-cultural Interaction
Within the contemporary discourse on culture, identity, race and ethnicity, the
term multiculturalism is gradually being replaced by notions of transculturalism or
interculturalism which seem to be better suited for the developments of present day
societies, Canadian included. Canadian policy of multiculturalism, passed by the
government of Pierre Trudeau in 1972, was a legal recognition of the pluralism which
has been an ever present fact of Canadian society. Multiculturalism was not invented by
Trudeau’s government—it was an actual fact produced by immigration, by people
moving and settling around the world (Cuccioletta 4). At the time of its implementation,
the Act of Multiculturalism seemed to be an adequate reply to the situation where the
policy of assimilation was a clear failure. According to the theory behind, the Act of
Multiculturalism was to “establish an eventual cosmopolitan identity of Canadian
citizenship” (Cuccioletta 1). However, it has become an impediment to true
multiculturalism, since it only retained cultural divisions. Transculturalism, which is a
more recent concept, is based on the ideal of pluralism too, but in contrast with
multiculturalism, it calls for more interaction and cultural exchange. It promotes and
allows for communication between cultures. Therefore, transculturalism may be the
right step on a way towards the harmonious coexistence of diverse cultures.
Even though the policy of multiculturalism in Canada has made ethnocultural
diversity a subject of public discussion and has achieved some positive changes, it has
also incited considerable criticism. Its contribution lies in acknowledging pluralism on a
governmental level and in providing opportunities for people of varied ethnocultural
backgrounds. The criticism focuses on the policy’s limitations and inadequacies, and it
generally stems from the worries about:
15
fossilizing cultures into unchanging folk memories, about reducing ‘otherness’ to
singing and dancing or exotic food, about relegating non Anglo and non French
to the margins of Canadian culture where they are prey to tokenism as much as to
ghettoizing. (Hutcheon, Introduction14)
A quote from Richard Moore’s Justice and Political Stability in the Multicultural State
supports this argument too: “Echoing some American critics of multiculturalism,
Canadian writers like Richard Gwyn (1995) and Neil Bissoondath (1994) have argued
that official multiculturalism is leading to ghettoization, where immigrants are
encouraged to form self contained ghettos alienated from the mainstream” (qtd. in
Cuccioletta 7). Such line of criticism stresses the segmentation of Canadian society
which has resulted from the legally sustained pluralism. Despite its worthy underlying
ideal, multicultural policy does not seem to have enriched Canada or created a
harmonious environment. Rather, it has lead to departmentalization of the society. The
political ambition has not become reflected in the social reality.
Present day societies have been substantially affected by the phenomenon of
migration and are no longer monocultural. In this era of interdependent relations, it is
impossible to retain isolation and homogeneity. And even though
Historically, most liberal democracies have developed on the basis of national
cultures – either a single one, or a dominant one, or a federation of several ones
…, political and economic developments have upset traditional patterns and have
blurred established boundaries. (Bauböck and Rundell 7)
Mårald calls contemporary societies the “hybrid societies” and describes them as the
ones where “the continual and mutual development of the parallel cultural traditions”
takes place (1). Culture is no longer a unifying force because it has become decentred
and fragmented. Promoters of the ideals of multiculturalism refer to the ethnocultural
16
diversification of society as a “mosaic” and describe it as a condition where the unique
parts fit together into a unified whole. Such representation, however, implies retention
of boundaries between the constituent elements. What Janice Kulyk Keefer, Elizabeth
Mårald, Mari Peepre Bordessa and other supporters of transculturalism, a notion which
stresses communication and interchange between cultures, propose is replacing the
conception of a mosaic by a “kaleidoscope”. This icon would indicate “interconnection,
mobility and transformation” which should be taking place within Canadian society
(Mårald 15). Contemporary Canadian culture shall comprise all cultural discourses and
cultural points of reference within its territory. However, it shall not only acknowledge
the pluralism, but more importantly, encourage cultural exchange. The monolithic and
static character of societies and cultures is no longer desirable and applicable.
Where the policy of multiculturalism does not seem to be an ideal solution to the
situation of mingling cultures, the concept of transculturalism is a better suited answer.
As a matter of fact , the more precise terms of transculturalism or interculturalism are
slowly replacing the concept of multiculturalism. Transculturalism accentuates the need
of interaction and the process of dialogue, and it can constitute a next step towards the
cosmopolitan citizenship. Cuccioletta describes this kind of a citizenship as
“independent of political structures and institutions, [it] develops each individual in the
understanding that one’s culture is multiple, métis 1 and that each human experience and
existence is due to the contact with other , who in reality is like, oneself” (9).
Transculturalism was defined as early as 1940 by the South American scholar Fernando
Ortiz who described it as “a synthesis of two phases occurring simultaneously, one
being a deculturalization of the past with a métissage 2 with the present” (Cuccioletta 8).
1 from Late Latin mixticius mixed 2 métissage in French means ‘crossbreeding’ ( different races ), mixed race or miscegenation
17
In Canada, as in any other country of the present, cultures interpenetrate, thus creating
space and possibilities for the emergence of transcultural identities. Transculturalism is
based on meeting and intermingling of cultures and peoples , and on the crossing of
boundaries with a view of establishing valuable dialogues.
Another term often mentioned in the debate of multiculturalism and
transculturalism is interculturalism. This concept is approached in several ways.
Elizabeth Mårald, inspired by Mari Peepre Bordessa, considers interculturalism to be a
distinct notion, different from transculturalism. Mari Peepre Bordessa applies this term
to immigrant fiction in particular. According to her classification, a transcultural fiction
“singularizes the experience of crossing cultural barriers ... and expresses the actual
experience of migration” (qtd. in Mårald 3), whereas an intercultural fiction “conveys a
vision of polycultural integration as a valuable development” (Mårald 3). On the
contrary, Cuccioletta perceives interculturality as being closely connected with the
transcultural acts (2, 9). He is convinced that it is an important consequence of crossing
the boundaries between cultures, which cannot be easily separated from it.
Interculturality indicates interaction, and the interaction between cultures is a result of
crossing the boundaries. Therefore, a constrained separation of crossing and interacting
would be an unnatural move.
In contrast to multiculturalism, which has in effect retained or recreated the
boundaries that were based on past cultural heritages of immigrants, and which has in
many cases reduced these heritages to static cultural expressions, transculturalism
focuses on crossing, breaking and blurring of these boundaries. It opposes both the
strict assimilative approach and the stiff sticking to one’s original cultural traditions—it
promotes cultural exchange instead. In her essay “A Crypto Ethnic Confession”, Linda
Hutcheon calls Fisher’s conception of “inter reference between two or more cultural
18
traditions” an especially fruitful representation of a transcultural situation. Ghosh and
Wang describe similar experience in their essay “Transnationalism and Identity: A Tale
of Two Faces and Multiple Lives”. Transnationalism is essentially a concept
comparable to transculturalism, the only difference being that the former concerns cross
border involvements in situations of migration between countries and the latter can be
applied to a wider range of experience. However, the two authors talk about conducting
“numerous social and cultural exchanges across borders” (277) which can connote not
only the borders of the countries but also the cultural borders within countries or smaller
communities. Through these crossings, culture comes to comprise multitude of
practices and create room for dialogues and interactions. There exists no homogenous
and centralizing culture in a transcultural view because it “becomes all encompassing,
recognizing interaction without barriers” (Cuccioletta 9). In the transcultural process,
rigid barriers between cultures are lost. The sense of otherness is retained, but it is
recognized through dialogues between the different parts of a society.
A lot of Canadian writers, such as Joy Kogawa, Rohinton Mistry, Paul Yee,
Tomson Highway and Marlene Nourbese Philips, admit their debt to the policy of
multiculturalism because it provided them with the financial support, but at the same
time the images of ethnicity and identity in their writing confront the ideology of
Canadian Multicultural Act (Johnston) and its ghettoizing tendencies and they often
head towards interaction across boundaries of any kind. They challenge stereotypes and
assumptions of one culture from the perspective of the other and they, consciously or
unconsciously, draw on more than one cultural repertoire. Mari Peepre Bordessa notes
on the emergence of transcultural fiction:
It does seem to me that a major cultural transformation has taken place in
Canada. A reading of recent Canadian fiction reveals a diversity and
19
richness of cultural production which I would suggest few other countries
can equal at this point. It seems clear that the creative friction produced
by migration and the acculturation process have sparked a re writing of
their world, ... . Furthermore, a reading of just few examples of these
migrant fictions will uncover an innovative and radical counter discourse
which speaks against many of the stereotyping tendencies of the canon
even as it reveals much about Canadian society. (qtd. in Mårald 1)
Dionne Brand formulates these writers’ attempts on deconstructing any uniform
concepts of identity in this statement: “We are the new wave of Canadian writing. We
will write about the internal contradictions”(qtd. in Johnston). It should be remembered
that although many of these writings speak for and about their own community, or out
of the awareness of interconnection with other marginalized communities, it does not
mean that they are not multiple and inclusive in nature. Seeing concepts like ‘race’ or
‘ethnicity’ across boundaries is a pluralistic (Padolsky) and transcultural act in itself.
Moreover, a lot of these writers have learnt to benefit from participating in the majority
culture too. They look “back to the old country and forward to the new one”
(Mårald 4). Transcultural authors try to recreate artistically the experience of
inhabiting the crossroads of cultures. They attempt to come to terms with the
dual/multiple cultural spheres and reflect the confrontation of different cultural
discourses. But most of all, they cross cultural barriers and understand that this
experience and the consequent condition of dual, and sometimes even multiple heritage
can be used in a valuable way.
Due to great demographic shifts resulting from a substantial immigrant inflow in
recent years, the nature of a contemporary Canadian society is pluralistic and hybrid.
Canadian sociopolitical, as well as cultural, discourse should reflect this fact and allow
20
for the free flow of peoples and cultures without any formal impositions by the
government. The policy of multiculturalism seemed to hinder the process of dialogue
between the groups of people of different ethnic origin. Even though it did help to
establish and recognize these groups, it conserved the boundaries between them.
Transculturalism also accepts the existence of different cultural spheres, but most of all,
it embraces the possibility of crossing the borders between them and learning how to
profit from an increased cultural competence. Reading works by contemporary
Canadian women writers of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds can help us understand
the nature of transcultural acts, their influence on identities, and their benefits.
21
1.3. Re-defining Canadian Ethnocultural Identities
You and I both know identity
is a nebulous thing.
Kristjana Gunnars
(qtd. in Tschoefen)
Identity is one of the central topics in contemporary political, social, cultural,
and consequently literary discourses which take on a specific form in multicultural
environments. The reason for the intense attention to the question of identity is the
identity crisis we seem to be experiencing at the moment. Rapid social changes are the
cause of disintegration of most of the homogenous and stable identity designs, and the
result is the emergence of the concept of multiple identities created across cultural,
ethnic and other borders. New identity and ethnicity formations have become an
invariable part of lives in multicultural societies. Since multiculturalism as a policy
appears to limit identities and expressions of ethnicity, transculturalism can become a
suitable approach because it has a capacity to promote interaction and (re)creation of
identities which suit the rapidly changing contexts.
The keen concentration on the question of identity has come as a consequence of
an identity crisis which occurred in the last part of the 20 th century and which is an
outcome of a number of problems of the modern era. The transformations which have
caused “dissembeding of identity on a personal and social level” (“Identity”) are
diversely called a new period of late modernity (Giddens, 1990, 1991) or postmodernity
(Lyotard 1986, Bauman 1987, 1991) or a new Global Age (Albrow, 1997) (ibid.). The
main factor leading to the identity crisis include the breaking up of most of the all
encompassing identity schemes such as family or nation, great demographic shifts, or
forces of globalization in tension with local pressures. New identities stemming from
22
this situation are hybrid and fluid. Identity has become decentred, ambivalent and
contextual (ibid.). It is no longer a homogenous and consistent concept—such approach
was frequent among humanists who deduced it from the etymology of the word. In
Latin idem means “the same” (Leersen). However, as Mårald asserts, the term ‘identity’
today is an “umbrella term for the many affiliations a person or a group has” (16). The
advent of the concept of pluralistic identities constructed across and amid various
sociocultural discourses is a consequence of the identity crisis characteristic of the age
of postmodernity and brought about by fast social transformations. Considering
contemporary developments, there is no doubt that the complex forms of identities are
becoming a permanent phenomena and that even more intricate identities will keep
arising.
The above mentioned developments have had considerable impact on the re
thinking of ethnic identities as well. Ethnic identity can be described as “a way in which
people, on account of their ethnic origin, locate themselves psychologically in relation to
one or more social systems and in which they perceive others as placing them in relation
to those systems” (Isajiw). Even though some people still associate ethnic with foreign,
marginal, immigrant, exotic, or, paradoxically, authentic, thus reducing ethnicities to
mere stereotypes, it is necessary to realize and acknowledge the fact that everybody is
ethnically anchored. As Stuart Hall puts it: “we all speak from a particular place, out of
a particular history, out of a particular experience, a particular culture ... We are all ...
ethnically located and our ethnic identities are crucial to our subjective sense of who we
are” (258). One shall not construct rigid boundaries between us and the Other—on the
contrary, we shall allow these boundaries to become more flexible, thus providing space
for the emergence of new ethnicities. The new ethnicities are created through
negotiation, deconstruction and reconstruction (Isajiw). They are formed across
23
boundaries—and John Pivato is aware of this when he says that it is “more in the
meeting of cultures that ethnicity today is actually lived” (qtd. in Hutcheon, Crypto
Ethnic). The result of this process is not an ethnicity characterized by purity and
stability, but a changeable and a dynamic one. Nowadays, ethnic identification has
plural forms and one can change from the range of ethnic manifestation according to the
context: “We may be black in one context, Asian in another and Punjabi in a third,
whilst ill at ease with the application of any category singly when applied in, for
example, censuses and surveys” (“Ethnicity”). Ethnic identities are created in everyday
conduct. They do not vanish through the processes affecting them, but the diverse new
forms are formed. Nevertheless, one shall always be conscious of the fact that ethnicity
is in essence an abstract concept constructed and used for our convenience.
A connection can be drawn between new ethnicities, hybrid identities and the
concept of transculturalism, since the transcultural act of crossing the boundaries
involves dynamism and interaction, and eventuates in fluidity. Limits and restrictions
are what many consider a problem of multiculturalism as a national policy—they worry
that ethnicity can become an obligatory and limiting label (Hutcheon, “Crypto Ethnic”).
Transcultural identity is quite the opposite because it is fluid, multiple and subject to
continuous change. Ethnicity through transcultural optics is not reduced to stereotypical
and static manifestations, since transculturalism supports reinvention and recombination.
Switching between such recreated identities is more often than not smooth and led by
unconscious motivations, and it results from a desire to be at multiple places
concurrently, to lead multiple lives (Ghosh and Wang 277). Stuart Hall also provides a
definition of what can be understood as transcultural identities. He claims that they
“combine elements from a variety of cultural sources” and he adds that “they are
particularly evident in a complex mixing of musical styles, literary genres and cinematic
24
expressions” (“Identity”). However, “recombination, hybridization and cut and mix”
(Hall 258) do not take place only in these areas, but also in everyday life through quite
mundane activities—food and eating are their prime examples. The objective of
transculturalism is to make identity free of the political dimension and strict labeling,
and to create and support the existence of multiple hybrid identities without barriers.
The era of postmodernity is characterized by fast social changes related to
migration, new technologies and globalization, and by the crisis of identity. The notion
of identity as stable and homogenous has been overcome and substituted by the concept
of multiple identities which are chosen according to the context. A contemporary
individual has become a “chameleon of labels” (qtd. in Mårald 16). Concurrently with a
discussion about hybrid identities, reassessment of ethnicity is taking place. Even
though there still are a lot of people who slip into stereotyping, there exist many who
refuse to use ethnicity as a limiting category. Nowadays, new identities and ethnicities
are formed across cultural boundaries and through unprejudiced interaction. This
indicates that transculturalism is a concept that suits the needs of contemporary
multicultural societies because it allows for formations and reformations of multiple
identities without putting restrictions on them and without binding them with dangerous
stereotypes. A lot of contemporary writings by Canadian women authors of diverse
ethnocultural origins comprehend these developments, draw on them, and place identity
quests in the centre of their attention, looking at them from various perspectives and
using various means and imagery to deliver it.
25
2. Contemporary Food Discourses—Shedding Light on Food Imagery
2.1. Food Studies as a Reflection of Social and Cultural Developments
In the literary works chosen for this thesis, the views on multiculturalism,
transculturalism and ethnocultural identities are expressed through food imagery.
Comprehension of the issues addressed in present day food studies and basic principles
guiding it can facilitate the understanding of the usage of food imagery and food
references in these works. The range of issues covered by food studies parallels the
variety of food motifs in literature, thus proving that food is an integral part of all
aspects of our lives. In the last few decades, studies of food have become increasingly
common in social sciences and across a wide range of disciplines . Food and eating as
mundane daily activities are receiving more and more attention because of the
recognition of their essentiality to all human societies, and mainly of their considerable
importance as social phenomena. Food studies developed rapidly in 1980s because of
substantial changes in the world of food itself, which brought up a lot of new themes
such as taste, eating disorders or complex social differences in relation to food
(Scholliers 7) into this academic field. Nowadays, contemporary professional journals
in the fields of anthropology, nutrition, education, public health, folklore, medicine,
sociology, history, archeology, business administration, and psychology explore food
and food habits while employing a variety of approaches and providing a diversity of
definitions and viewpoints. Major problems discussed in academic research include
food in relation to ethnocultural identity, social changes and migration, globalization,
gender roles, and to politics and power. Naturally, food research does not limit itself to
these problems only and comprises a much wider range of themes. Food attracts the
26
attention of social sciences because it is vital not only to human bodies, but also to
social relations.
One of the prominent issues within food studies is the interconnection of food
with cultural identity. Dvořáková Janů in Lidé a Jídlo clarifies this connection by
saying that even though biological constitution allows people to look for sustenance, it
does not dictate them what exactly to eat (14). Many other authors in the field agree that
food is an integral part of culture. Amy Bentley claims that the study of food is “key to
understanding cultures and societies, and individuals’ lives within them” because
Eating, after all, is much more than ingesting nutrients for biological survival: food
plays a significant role in social relationships, is a highly symbolic element in
religious and magical rites, aids in developing and maintaining cultural
distinctions, and assumes enormous significance in shaping individual identities.
(524)
Frewer states that since as social creatures we tend to structure our lives by food, we eat
meals several times a day, year in and out. Therefore, food is closely related to culture
because culture is expressed through norms, values, beliefs and rituals (198). Bennet,
Harvey and Smith also offer an interesting formulation of the problem when they
declare that
The illusion of an “economic man”, searching out the most obscure foodstuffs
from an unwilling Nature in the reasoned pursuit of complete fulfillment of his
needs, must give way to the concept of a man conditioned by the preferences and
prejudices of his neighbors, selecting only those foods sanctioned by the “culture”.
(646)
And Jane McCallum remarks concisely: “A society’s culture, we are told, is reflected in
its food pattern” (235). Food as a culture trait that is selected, altered and transmitted
27
within social processes is one of the main concerns of food studies. Although worded
differently, all the above mentioned statements highlight the role of food and foodways
within the entire cultural milieu.
Since ethnicity is understood as related to culture and not to biology as was
believed in the past, and considering the fact that there is a clear relation between culture
and food, it can be assumed there is, likewise, a certain link between food and ethnic
identity. In fact, the majority of food research today deals with ethnic identity—“In
studying ethnicity researchers study the extension of food sharing from immediate
family, to larger kin networks, to entire ethnic groups” (Leeds Hurwitz 91). Initially,
family units were in the centre of attention and were considered the appropriate object of
research, but a gradual shift towards studying food habits of more loosely defined
groups of families and friends from the same ethnic background has occurred recently
(ibid.), which mirrors the emergence of the concept of inclusive communities. Another
alternative way of looking at the issue of ethnicity and food involves turning away from
the private spheres of individuals and their self image and moving towards the emphasis
of “transactions between the ‘ethnic group’ and its public” (Lu and Fine 535). An
example of such approach is Lu and Fine’s study “The Presentation of Ethnic
Authenticity: Chinese Food and Social Accomplishment” in which the authors focus on
ethnicity as a marketing tool within the entrepreneurial market, and using the example of
Chinese restaurants they show how ethnic culture can be “authentic” and bound with
cultural expectations at the same time (ibid.) Ethnic identity is one of the many aspects
which contemporary food studies consider, and it certainly is an area of substantial
development—there has been a move towards research of larger and freer kin networks
and public spheres instead of focusing solely on studying ethnic identities within private
spheres of the self or closer families.
28
Ethnic food and the issues of “authenticity”, commoditization of ethnicity and
dietary globalization are frequent themes within the scope of academic research of food
too. An example of such study is Cook and Harrison’s “Cross over Food: Re
materializing postcolonial Geographies” which uses food as a material expression of
culture to demonstrate post colonial discourse. The study examines how Caribbean
food has gone mainstream in Great Britain through commoditization of ethnocultural
difference. The act of commoditization involves creating stereotypes which are very
often connected to the perception of ethnic food as being “exotic” or, paradoxically,
“authentic”, and which are used as a marketing strategy suitable for the consumer
societies. The success of such strategy is evident in the mushrooming of “ethnic food”
aisles in supermarkets or multi cuisine restaurants. The result is the so called dietary
globalization which is bolstered by the media, and which has a homogenizing influence
since it transforms boundaries originally marking off ethnicities and cultures.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that globalization is often coupled with the
persistence of local food. The result is the existence of chameleon like identities which
embrace a bit of everything: local and global, old and new, modern and traditional (Koc
and Welsh 3). The processes of commodification and dietary globalization show that
the connection of food and ethnicity in contemporary multicultural environments can
sometimes result in creating stereotypes which prevent genuine understanding between
cultures, and which can be easily abused for the sake of economic profit in food
industries.
Culture and ethnicity have attained different meanings in multicultural societies
of today, and therefore food as an attribute of culture and ethnicity, and as a factor
influencing one’s sense of identity, functions in a specific way in multicultural
circumstances. As a result of migration, post colonialism and rise of countercultures
29
and ethnic identity movements together with many other forces, a multitude of identities
is constantly being constructed and reconstructed, and societies are being enriched by
food cultures from all over the world. The fluid nature of identity, which is so
characteristic of the today’s realities, is often examined through immigrant behavior
which provides space for observing changes in foodways and resistance to new food
habits at the same time. Donna R. Gabaccia tackles the problem of multiculturalism,
immigration, ethnicity and consumerism with respect to food in her study We Are What
We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans and stresses the influence of ethnic
foods on American culture and the function of immigrant business in American food
industry. She argues that “if we are what we eat, Americans are indeed a multicultural
stew” (Levine). Another example of a study dealing with culture contact so typical of
multicultural environments and the change of food habits such contact results in, is
Jitsuichi Masuoka’s “Changing Food Habits of the Japanese in Hawaii” which
acknowledges the influence of the multitude of factors underlying food habits of
immigrants, ranging from availability of food and ease of preparation to declining
influence of native social institutions (759). M.S.A. Rao contributes to the debate on
transforming food ways within multicultural societies with a term “gastrodynamics”
which he uses to describe changing dietary styles and food behavior arising from
migration (qtd. in Freed 184). The studies mentioned here discuss important concepts of
multicultural cuisine and dynamism of food habits, and they all use the immigrant
experience to illustrate the relationship between food and multiculturalism. Since
multiculturalism is a fact of life for most of the contemporary societies, food studies
have to reflect this reality and shed light on how food operates in such situations.
Transculturalism with its emphasis on interaction is a concept which has become
considered as more fitting for the reality of multicultural societies than rigid
30
multicultural policies, and transcultural viewpoints can be traced in studies of food
habits as well. For example, Samantha Barbas explores restaurants as “agents of
innovation” and arenas of cultural boundary crossing in her “’I’ll Take Chop Suey’:
Restaurants as Agents of Culinary and Cultural Change”. Barbas looks at reasons for
food being so successful in promoting exchange, and although she mentions many
negative aspects such as stereotyping, “culinary imperialism” or temporarility of cross
cultural culinary experience, she still recognizes the potential of food to serve as “a
catalyst for further explorations” (683) into varied cultures and the hybrid foods’
contribution to “growing tolerance for ethnic diversity” (684). In their article “The
Presentation of Ethnic Authenticity: Chinese Food as Social Accomplishment”, Lu and
Fine focus on Chinese ethnic restaurants too. The authors see these restaurants as places
where tradition and change meet in the market context and give rise to new culinary
forms thus providing space for new identities. They conclude that
Rather than preserving cultures through enforced and artificial incorporation, the
market has demonstrated the potential for generating voluntary inclusion. … we
can understand the dynamics of cultural integration by examining the strategies
that ethnic entrepreneurs have successfully used to bring their culture to a larger
audience. (549)
These strategies are in line with transcultural ideals because they are based on
combining tradition, adaptation and innovation, which does not imply the absolute
disappearance of the tradition, but in fact makes continuity of ethnic food possible
(548). Since culture is never a closed system, cuisines as integral parts of it are dynamic
and open to fusions and interaction. Lu and Fine stress the interaction when they say
that in food enterprise “ethnic” cuisine tries to fit the market and at the same time it
alters the market. When consuming “ethnic” food, we cross boundaries, share cultures
31
and embrace diversity, and through the creation of fusion cuisines, we blur the
boundaries and enhance emergence of multiple identities. Such experience can be
called transcultural.
Yet, it would be erroneous to think that food studies only concentrate on food in
relation to cultural and ethnic identities, even if they form a substantial portion of
academic discourse. The social science of food is more than culture and ethnicity—
discourse on food comprises issues such as famine and plenty, food and colonialism,
food and socioeconomic status, food and gender, food marketing, eating disorders,
inequalities of distribution of food, scientific and lay beliefs about food and health, work
in the food industry as well as food in the context of power, politics and strategy. Food
issues are numerous and they all need to be examined critically because moral
presumptions about gender, race, ethnicity, and class are embedded in many a food
discourse (Julier). Anyhow, food studies are a grow industry because food is a basic
concern for all human societies and an important expression of social relations of many
kinds, and therefore it can help enhance the understanding of the functioning and
transformations of societies and identities
32
2.2. Food and Identity—A Crucial Relationship
If we are what we eat, who are we?
Donna R. Gabaccia
(qtd. in Scholliers 4)
The linkage between food and identity is of great import both to food studies and
literary fiction. According to social theorists, identity is crucial to every human being as
it gives sense to existence, formulates the relationship between oneself and the Other
and creates values and norms. Identity affects the way people perceive and construct
their society, and it determines they act, think, socialize, eat and work—in other words,
it influences each aspect of their everyday lives. People do all this with reference to
economic, social, cultural and political conditions, events and expectations, and by
doing so, they influence the economic, the social, the cultural and the political
(Scholliers 5). Nowadays, the idea of homogenous identity is untenable—identities are
multiple and they are a combination of various facets. The question is how food is
related to identities and processes of identification.
Food’s essential role in identity formation is given by its equal biological and
social significance. Food is necessary for survival, which is ensured by swallowing, and
it is this incorporative character of food that makes it so important and open to
symbolism. As Peter Schollliers says: “Food crosses the border between the outside and
the inside and the principle of incorporation touches upon the very nature of a person”
(8). The fact that food becomes a part of us reinforces its link to identity . The social
and cultural dimension of food is obvious when one considers the wide variety of food
preferences across cultures regardless of the common need for nutrition. Food is a
cultural practice through which people participate in attitudes and rituals of a group and
these participations can be socially controlled as well as more automatic (Scholliers 7).
33
The link between food and identity is supported by the assertion that “the sentiments of
belonging via food do not include the act of classification and consumption but also the
preparation, the organization, the taboos, location, symbols, form” (ibid.). Identity is
constructed and affected by a multitude of significations surrounding food practices.
Food is necessary for our continued physical existence. Even though it is a common
human need, there exist a great variety of food preferences all over the world. Because
of the closeness and interconnection of the physical and the social, food is an important
factor partaking in creating and expressing identity, or rather the multiplicity of
identities produced by the present era. The authors presented in this thesis are aware of
the relationship between identity and food, and that is why they use food imagery to
make statements about their ethnocultural identities.
Foodways and identities are not fixed because in the era of postmodernity
adaptation and re creation take place on a day to day basis. As Scholliers says: “Diet
and identity are not ‘given’ or just ‘out there’ ready to grab, but both are interpreted,
adapted or rejected according to one’s needs, means and intentions” (4). Identity is a
synthesis of a variety of aspects and food habits as its constituent part might be
overruled by other self representations in view of the context. To illustrate this point,
the same author mentions a situation where his vegetarianism was overthrown by
different identity expressions: he was standing “with a hot dog in his hand at a football
game” (3). Food habits are dynamic and subject to change, and so it is undesirable to
make direct connections between food and concept of national identity. Even though
people often tend to associate countries with particular foods, such attitude can lead to
the creation of stereotypes and retention of boundaries with food serving as a
demarcation of “us” and “them”. Despite the high frequency of this view, food has been
increasingly shared across the boundaries due to migration flows, globalizing forces and
34
capitalism. Food is no longer a reliable indicator of group membership, and the concept
is becoming useless, implying that boundaries are meaningless after all. Fichler claims
that transformations in the world of food, whether technological and cultural, result in
the crisis of identification with food. The questions “What are we actually eating and
who are we?” (qtd. in Scholliers 4) epitomize this dilemma. Such pessimistic view is
not necessary though—sharing food can indicate the emergence of fluid and mutually
tolerant transcultural identities, as proved by the employment of food imagery to
illustrate transcultural acts in works of Beth Brant, Eden Robinson, and mainly Hiromi
Goto, the analyses of which are provided in the next sections of this thesis.
Food is a way of communication—it conveys messages about social relations
and social identities through which people construct and maintain social reality. When
food is studied as communication, the focus is on the context in which it appears and on
the implications of choosing some foods over other alternatives. This approach is
characteristic of semiotics, for which food has always been a traditional object of
analysis 3. Mary Douglas is one of the most influential researchers in this area because
of her systematic application of semiotics to food and her thorough treatment of food as
a social code. Food objectifies social relations and thus it can encode messages of
inclusion and exclusion, degrees of hierarchy or willingness to communicate across
boundaries (Leeds Hurowitz 88). As has already been mentioned, one of the most
important roles of food is to indicate various types of identity. Recognition of this
function allows for using the presence or absence of particular food to make deliberate
declarations about identity. Food is surely used for communication just as any other
type of verbal or non verbal communication. It transfers messages about identities and
3 Levi Strauss’s study of mythology employs food as a central theme. The best known point is about the distinction between raw and cooked as polarities of natural and cultural. Roland Barthes provided a semiotic analysis which used comparison of the consumption of sugar in France an the US and which was based on the premise that food is not a mere foodstuff, but rather an attitude (Leeds Hurowitz 86).
35
social relations which are all transformed in time due to social changes. Even if
researchers may sometimes find food codes complex and difficult to deal with, what is
really important is that ordinary people understand the messages communicated through
food and use them in their lives on a day to day basis.
Food and its link to identity has been one of the most fruitful topics of food
studies to date. The significance of food for human life rests in its simultaneous
contribution to the biological and the social, and it is also the act of incorporation that
gives food its unique status. In view of semiotics, food functions as communication. It
transmits messages about identities and social relationships, and it develops and
transforms over time due to social shifts. It can also facilitate transcultural
communication through food sharing across cultural boundaries, and through altering
and re creating food habits according to contexts. Comprehension of the relation
between food and its implications can shed light on the employment of food references
in literary works, and being aware of the complexity of this relation can make one
comprehend the variety of forms this issue takes on in the works of contemporary
multicultural women writers of Canada.
36
3. Food Imagery and Contemporary Multicultural Women Writers of Canada—
Expressions of Ethnocultural Identities
“Authors could be divided into two groups:
those that mention food, indeed revel in it,
and those that never give it a second thought”
Margaret Atwood
(qtd. in Blodgett)
3.1. Introduction
Contemporary Canadian women authors of multicultural backgrounds use food
imagery to handle a wide range of issues ranging from cultural identities to gender and
politics, thus paralleling the scope of themes in food studies and drawing on the reality
they are confronted with daily. Looking at food references in works by several such
writers can illustrate the diversity of questions food imagery can raise as well as the
variety of voices that Canadian literature comprises. But most of all, food as a literary
device can embody drifts in present day discussions on race, ethnicity, culture, identity,
gender and on concepts intended to describe current sociocultural developments, such as
multiculturalism and transculturalism.
Despite the ethnocultural diversification of Canada’s society, the voices from its
multicultural spectrum have not always been perceived as an integral part of Canadian
literary heritage. It was in 1970’s that the previously marginalized authors started to
penetrate into the Canadian literary scene and challenge mainstream literature. These
writers made their appearance in the era when ethnicities came into the fore of cultural,
social and political discussion and they prompted people to “focus back at the adjective
‘Canadian’” (Loriggio 57). Authors from Non Anglo traditions have spoken up and
37
started to question concepts of homogeneity of Canadian experience. The realization
that Canadian is multicultural, and therefore cannot be bound by any concept of singular
identity, enhanced the gradual addition of ethnic texts to the Canadian literary corpus
,thus creating internal dynamics which reflects the fluidity of today’s identities. The
literary and the social always intertwine.
The ethnicity of literary texts cannot be defined in fixed and formal terms and by
imposing outside criteria. Authors speaking from diverse ethnocultral backgrounds must
be read on their own terms, not through some other optic, and it shall be remembered
that works by these authors can contain material closely related to their ethnicity, as well
as non ethnic material. In this way, one can avoid stereotyping. Ethnicity must not be
seen as set and stable, but as evolving, and in the process of constant re creation. As
Loriggio comments: “When we read about German, Italian or English texts we imagine
them as components of indivisible identity, but ethnicity can introduce hyphens” (56).
Calling English texts ‘ethnic’ is very important. Linda Hutcheon remarks on this matter:
Yet, just as even the English and French were once immigrants to Canada, so too
are they ‘ethnic’, at least insofar as they possess distinctive cultural customs and
languages. If you don’t consider the British as ‘ethnic’, think about cricket and
yorkshire pudding. (“The Canadian Mosaic” 47)
English is indeed one of the ethnicities, not the voice of the universal to be used to
analyze writers of Non English backgrounds by imposing English standards on them.
Ethnicities, and hence authors from various ethnic groups, cannot be defined in simple
terms—ethnicity of the texts shall not be ignored, but reading them shall not stop at
ethnic borders.
The women writing from a diversity of Non Anglo backgrounds challenge
exclusionary structures because of their ethnic background, as well as because of their
38
gender. They are perceived as doubly Other. If a question whether women write
differently from men needs to be answered within a literary discourse, it is best
approached “through culture rather than nature, since latter is only accessible through
former” (Gunew xiv). Bodies and their differences gain meaning through cultural
codes. Simone De Beauvoir has rightly pointed out that “women learn to be women”
(ibid.), and they learn it differently across cultures. Femininity has miscellaneous forms
in cultures all over the world. Texts by women authors speaking from diverse
ethnocultural spheres are varied and one shall not deny and overlook the gender and the
ethnicity, since it forms an integral part of their literariness, but at the same time one
shall not reject and exclude on the basis of this difference or concentrate on this
difference only.
When choosing multicultural women authors for an anthology, or, in fact for a
diploma thesis, one makes an “act of positive discrimination” (Gunew xiv). Even
though this term has been used more frequently in a “bureaucratic structure of public
institutions than in a literary world”(ibid.), it has developed into an effective tool for
challenging and resisting racial, ethnic and gender bias and inequalities in every aspect
of contemporary societies. Making the Other voices stand out and speak, thus rendering
differences visible in a positive manner can lead to understanding these differences and
consequently to accepting them and embracing them as apart of each person’s identity.
Each human being is a conglomerate of identities; multicultural women writers are fully
aware of this fact and therefore confront the concept of homogeneity. Joy Kogawa
speaks as if for most of these authors: “I don’t want to be defined by and limited by any
singular identity” (Padolsky). Multicultural women writers often move beyond single
identities to participate in plurality. Identities are multiple and each Canadian is not
39
only a hyphen, but a multitude of hyphens. 4 Contemporary societies shall not risk
negating the diversity of human experience.
Food is one of the participants in creating and expressing identities, and since
multicultural women authors frequently consider identity issues in their works, they also
refer to food. In their texts, references to food and food imagery are used for various
purposes: “to speak of personal and social behaviors and psychological problems, art,
sex, sexual politics, poverty, nationalism, ..., domesticity” and much more (Blodgett).
Women of the twentieth century are inclined to speak of food quite often. The interest
in this theme is rooted in the second wave of feminist criticism which started to look
into gender distinctions in culture and literature, and to look for food imagery used to
address gender issues. The importance and the frequent employment of food imagery,
whether literal or figurative, is clarified by Kim Chernin’s statement that food is “the
principal way the problems of female being come to expression in women’s lives” (qtd.
in Blodgett). Blodgett adds that “Cooking, broadly conceived as female context,
appears to offer some persuasive explanation why women maybe drawn to food
imagery”. Twentieth century women writing is abundant with references to food and
eating, and critics have focused on works of
Margaret Atwood, Anita Brookner, Angela Carter, Willa Cather, Kate Chopin,
Colette, Isak Dinsen, Margaret Drabble, Margaret Duras, Nora Ephron, Laura
Esquivel, Duong Thu Huong, Margaret Laurence, Doris Lessing, Katherine
Mansfield, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Marge Piercy, Katherine Anne
Porter, Barbara Pym, Christina Stead, Edith Wharton, Fay Weldon, Elinor Wylie,
4In connection with ethnic identities, Joy Kogawa is an author of a well known statement that “A Canadian is a hyphen” (qtd. in Johnston). However, ethnic identity often includes multiple ancestral ethnicities together with an identification to the larger host society, for example “Korean Scottish Canadian”, Polish Jewish American” etc. (Isajiw). This implies that identities, (of whatever type, because identity is tied to membership in various communities), are most of the time not only dual but manifold.
40
Virginia Wolf, Margaret Yournecar, and others, including playwrights Caryl
Churchill and Joan Shenkar (Blodgett)
to analyze its usage. This list implies that critical attention to food references has not
been sporadic and brief, and the presence of Canadian authors on the list hints at the fact
that Canadian multicultural women writing is a fertile field of literary analysis.
Canadian women writers often speak to their readers through the language of
food. They refer to food in various contexts and touch upon various issues such as
questions of gender, identities, ethnicities, cultures, politics and power, interpersonal
and social relations, and many more. The authors chosen for the thematic analysis in
this section speak from various ethnocultural environments in order to illustrate the
diversity of Canadian literary scene. However, they shall not be taken as the
representation of what multicultural women “food” writing in today’s Canada is like.
Neither should the individual writers be perceived as the “representatives” of their
ethnocultural community’s writing. All the works discussed in this section touch upon
the connection of food and culture and clashes of cultures since all the authors have
roots in the Non Anglo milieu. In her poem “Life is Theatre” , Mary Di Michele raises
the theme of food differences in different cultures which is sharply felt in multicultural
societies, and comments on the interconnection of food and language. Uma
Parameswaran has the same theme as the background of her poem “Tara’s Mother in
Law”, but she adds a layer of generational conflict between the traditional and the
assimilated. “Burn Sugar” by Marlene Nourbese Phillip together with Dionne Brand’s
Another Place, Not Here refer to food as means of coming back to one’s roots. Phillip
also makes point about the mother daughter relationship against the background of food
preparation. In addition to commentary on conflicting American and Jewish cultures,
Sharon H. Nelson deals with a gender question with the use of food imagery in her
41
poem “The Woman’s Testimony”. Kristjana Gunnar’s The Prowler differs most from
the rest of the works chosen because it works mainly with a motif of famine, thus
making a statement about distribution of food and sociopolitical situation. In “Food &
Spirits” Beth Brant unfolds the theme of communication across cultural boundaries
through sharing one’s traditional food, thus introducing the concept of transcultural
interaction. And Eden Robinson fully expresses transcultural perspectives through
juxtaposing traditional First Nations food with Western style groceries and depicting
situations of drawing on various cultures. The writers discussed on the pages of this
thesis are to render a feeling of variety concerning cultural discourses within Canadian
literature and concerning the diversity regarding the theme of food, and also to illustrate
the developments in the discourse about ethnocultural identities which is gradually
moving towards transcultural perspectives.
3.2. Food as an Expression of Ethnocultural Identity and Cultural Barriers
in Mary Di Michele’s “Life is Theatre”
As an Italian immigrant to Canada , Mary Di Michele often engages in
explorations of Italian Canadian experience, and in her poetry she tells a story about
being an Italian Canadian, a women and a poet. According to Hutcheon, a lot of Italian
Canadian literature involves “nostalgic yearning for the culture left behind” (“The
Canadian Mosaic” 55), and she adds that perhaps it is “partly because the vast majority
of this group emigrated more recently” (ibid.). The emotional search for roots, and thus
for identity, is at the core of this writing, which Di Michele supports by saying that
I began to look back into my own immigrant experience, and as a result I found
my voice. Dealing with that background was fundamental in my development as a
writer in terms of identity and my voice. Understanding my experience as an
42
immigrant and as a woman was absolutely essential for me and my work. (qtd. in
Bonato)
Her poem “Life is Theatre Or To Be Italian in Toronto Drinking Cappuccino on Bloor
Street at Bersani & Carlevare’s” from the collection Immune to Gravity deals with the
doubleness of identity an immigrant has to struggle with daily, and Di Michele
communicates this conflict using food imagery.
Having crossed the cultural and geographical boundaries, immigrants are faced
with new and different cultural traditions which they are not ready to absorb in an
instant and which often surprise them. Consequently, they experience fear of being
identified as alien and therefore excluded from the host society. Di Michele reveals
these anxieties in the first stanza of “Life is Theatre”:
Back then you couldn’t have imagined
yourself openly savouring a cappucino,
you were ashamed that your dinners
were in a language you couldn’t share
with your friends: their pot roasts,
their turnips, their recipes for Kraft
dinners you glimpsed in TV commercials—
the mysteries of macaroni with marshmallows!
(1 8)
This passage exposes the immigrants’ fear of being pinpointed as the Other and
“different”. The clashing cultural traditions in the poem are represented by “macaroni
with marshmalows”, among others, and this meal hints at fusions and transformations of
43
cuisines developed in situations of interacting cultures 5. The feeling of impossibility of
crossing the barriers and sharing traditions, which permeates this stanza, does not
silence Di Michele—quite on the contrary, it makes her want to find a voice and
language with which to break the silence between her and the ones who see her as
foreign:
You needed an illustrated dictionary
to translate your meals, looking to the glossary
of vegetables, melanzane became eggplant,
African, with the dark sensuality of liver.
(9 12)
The author refers to the interconnection of food and language here—names of foods and
meals are coded in language, and if one does not speak the language, one cannot share
food as an important element of culture. However, mere translation does necessarily
help, and Di Michele points out: “But for them even eggplants were exotic/or alien, their
purple skin from outer space” (13 14). Food names are coded in language, and food
itself encodes specific cultural traditions. Sometimes, though, these traditions, despite
linguistic understanding, are not readily accepted and are still perceived as the other. Di
Michele continues in a nostalgic tone which stems from difficulties with adaptation,and
which in a specific way confirms the Italian identity of the author, all this in line with
Hutcheon’s observations about Italian Canadian literature:
Through the glass oven door
you would watch it bubbling in pyrex,
layered with tomato sauce and cheese, 5 Food and Wine magazine describes fusion cuisine as “cooking that combines ingredients from dramatically dissimilar cultures” (qtd. in Julier). However, it has to be remembered that “foods associated with national identity are themselves the products of fusion” (ibid.).
44
melanzane alla parmigiana ,
the other worldiness viewed as if
through a microscope
like photosynthesis in a leaf.
(15 21)
On one level, Di Michele’s “Life is Theatre” addresses the issue of being caught in
situation of conflicting cultures where the practices of the host society differ from the
traditions of the home country, and are often a result of fusions due to the multicultural
nature of the environment they originate in. The author, as an immigrant narrator,
struggles with the label of the Other and strives to break the barrier between the two
cultural spheres through language, but finds out that mere translating does not always
induce the acceptance of difference. Nevertheless, food choices give insight into who
we are, and Di Michele’s choice of melanzane alla parmigiana (18) reveals her
willingness to declare her identity and look back on her roots.
3.3. Food and the Conflict of the Traditional and the Assimilated
in Uma Parameswaran’s “Tara’s Mother-in-law”
Uma Parameswaran is also prompt to talk about her Indian identity, and food
imagery in her poem “Tara’s Mother in law” proves this. Since settling in Canada,
Parameswaran has dedicated her writing and community activities to creating a
definable South Asian Canadian diaspora. Parameswaran’s literary work, as well as the
work of other South Asian Canadian writers, is full of faith in her own voice, which
speaks of her Canadian experience and respects the cultural traditions of her home
country. Diane McGifford claims that South Asian Canadian authors are not “one note
Joannas; their thematic range comprises the personal, the cultural, the classical, the
45
literary” (xiii) and the forms they use to convey these subject matters are equally
diverse. The themes of Parameswaran’s poetry comprise various phases of immigrant
experience ranging from nostalgia for the land left behind to assimilated views. Her
poem “Tara’s Mother in law: What Kind of Place You’ve Brought Me to, Son” from the
collection Trishanku deals with the intergenerational cultural conflict in an immigrant
family. This conflict is represented by contradictory food habits. By using food
imagery strongly related to South Asian cuisine and spirituality, Parameswaran turns the
experience of clashing cultures which is universal for immigrants all over the world into
one that is also distinctively South Asian.
In “Tara’s Mother in law: What Kind of Place You’ve Brought Me to, Son”,
Parameswaran uses food to talk about transformations caused by migration, contact with
new environment, and conflicts between the assimilated children and traditional parents.
In this poem, the immigrant son has adopted new cultural conducts represented by food
habits—he eats food stored in “cans and ice cupboard” (Parameswaran 14), whereas his
mother, as a visitor to his new home, remains a traditional Indian woman. The young
man has accepted traditions and norms that are different from the ones of his original
culture. It is through food references that readers get to know the contrast between the
two cultures meeting in this poem. As opposed to the Canadian, or Western culture in
general, the Indian culture emphasizes the connection of a human being with the out of
doors and the spirituality which endows even the most mundane activities of one’s life.
Although happy to see her son “so well settled” (16), the mother is disheartened by the
lack of these ideals in her son’s new household:
How can you expect Lakshmi to come son?
You think she’ll care to enter
Where the same air goes round and round?
46
She “the lotus seated consort
of him who reposes
on the primeval ocean of milk?”
You think they’ll bless this food
three days old. (6 13)
The mother feels oppressed by the new environment which functions according to
different principles, and she is particularly unhappy seeing her son embracing them.
But I cannot breathe this stale air
With yesterday’s cooking smells
going round and round.
Son, cooking is an every day thing
Not a Sunday work alone. (25 29)
The mother is faced with the world of different cultural practices and, moreover, with
the fact that her son has adopted them at the expanse of the traditions she finds natural
and right. In this new situation she feels unrest because she is “too used to” (36) her
way of life, and so she falls into recalling the smells and flavors of her culture:
And son, cooking should smell good
The leaping aromas
of turmeric and green coriander,
and mustard seeds popped in hot oil
that flavour food, not stink up the air. (30 34)
Food, its tastes and smells, form a link to the culture she feels at home in. As a
consequence of seeing her son shedding away her culture and accepting practices
absolutely in contrast with her beliefs, the mother desires to leave ‘her son’s’ country,
although she is aware of the negatives of her home:
47
Open the windows, son,
And let me go back
to sun and air
and sweat and even flies and all
But not this, not this. (43 47)
However, putting up with these hindrances is much easier than struggling with new
cultural norms based on different beliefs. Food references in “Tara’s Mother in law”
are used to tell an immigrant story in which the assimilated son has adopted cultural
practices completely different from the practices of his traditional mother. They also
function as a metaphor of cultural contrasts and as a potential linkage with the culture
left behind.
3.4. Tasting the Past in Dionne Brand’s In Another Place, Not Here
The motif of food as a connective with one’s roots appears in Dionne Brand’s In
Another Place, Not Here. Brand is a representative of African Canadian literature
which is in itself a “species of hybridity”, since Canada constitutes “an assembly point
for all African peoples, both Old World (Africa) and New (North and South America)”
(Clarke xii). The creators of African Canadian literature are “like their forebears, exiles,
refugees, fugitives, pilgrims, migrants, and natives” (Clarke xiii). In 1992 Ayanna
Black remarked that “historically, African Canadian writing has been overtly political,
with little reference to the romantic or erotic” (qtd. in Clarke xvii). However, she also
observes that “Black writers are now, it seems, struggling between the political and
personal landscapes in their work” (ibid.). Although Dionne Brand writes in line with
her political commitment—she takes up the black, feminist subject position to challenge
the exclusionary constructions of Canadian white and patriarchal dominancy, her work
48
shall not be reduced only to the political dimension as she examines issues from more
personal and emotional viewpoints as well. Catherine Bush says about Brand that
"she ... explores the political and psychological transit between the Caribbean and North
America and, in the process, gives expression to the complicated negotiations of those
whose interior landscapes encompass both island and continent". Brand’s novel In
Another Place, Not Here offers an intertwining of political engagement with lyrical and
intimate formulations of questions of identity in a diaspora situation, in which food
imagery plays an important role.
The novel tells the stories of two women who have crossed cultural boundaries
and have to come to terms with new environments and to deal with past heritages.
Looking at food imagery can illuminate an exile situation and identity obscurities related
to it. The two Caribbean born women meet on an unnamed island and find a refuge in
each other as they engage in a brief, sensual affair. Elizete is a rural sugar cane worker
living on her native island, dreaming of an escape from the harsh reality, while Verlia is
an educated and urban woman who "fled the Caribbean for Canada as a teen ager and
returns years later to organize rural workers and take part in political revolution" (Bush).
After coming to Canada the two women are both exposed to different cultures and have
to, at some point, cope with the past. It is mainly in Verlia’s story that food plays an
important role as a trigger of emotions towards the native place. Verlia leaves her home
because she feels oppressed and alienated there, and she is sure she has to shed her past
away completely after coming to Canada. For Verlia, her home is connected mainly
with revolutionary ideals and activism—her blackness is more a political statement than
a link with her past or family. However, there is one moment when a feeling of certain
homesickness overcomes her. The trigger of this strong emotion is the recalling of the
tamarind taste: " So she remembered tamarinds, sour, seedy and stringy but eaten
49
voluntarily. And without reason she started to cry" (Brand 195). The thought of
tamarinds unleashes reminiscences of home, "of pools of purple dust on the side of the
road under a lilac tree hanging (Brand 199). When Verlia starts to think about the past,
she thinks of colors instead of people her family and people she knows. She does not
want to miss them and feel close to them because it was her resolution to leave them
behind. When she decides to come back home, it is not to meet her relatives, but to
organize a revolution. Verlia wants to get in touch with her roots, but in her case it
seems to be related to her political statement. Only gradually does her heritage become
integrated into her identity. Nevertheless, it is food that brings Verlia into the situation
in which she has to cope with her past. In In Another Place, Not Here Brand offers a
distinct portrayal of the exile experience—it is marked by double alienation, the one
which forces an individual out of one’s home and the one felt in the host society, and by
political ideals. Food imagery brings in the emotional aspect of the immigrant
experience. Food as a strong constituent of ethnocultural identity can draw one’s past
and roots near again.
3.5. Exile and the Meaning of a Cake in Marlene Nourbese Philip’s “Burn Sugar”
Marlene Nourbese Philip is another African Canadian author who explores
issues of roots and belonging and employs food imagery to convey her message to
readers. Moreover, in her short story “Burn Sugar”, food is used to examine mother
daughter relationship which she considers closely related to exile experience, since, in a
way, it mirrors the relationship between an immigrant and home country. Drawing on
her experience of being an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, Philip addresses
problems of immigration, race, colonialism, as well as gender, and her works have to be
read with the political, socio cultural, and economic conditions immigrants are faced
50
with in the host countries in mind. In the context of the immigrant question, Philip
relates the identity quest to the problem of racism when she says:
I carry a Canadian passport: I, therefore, am Canadian. ...(D)oes the racism of
Canadian society present an absolute barrier to those of us who are differently
coloured ever belonging? Because that is, in fact, what we are speaking about
how to belong not only in the legal and civic sense of carrying a Canadian
passport, but also in another sense of feeling at "home" and at ease. It is only in
belonging that we will eventually become Canadian. (Milz)
Philips’s works point out the problems of belonging in situations of being perceived as
the other. Philip’s dedication to questions of identity, race, place and inclusion is
evident in her fiction, with “Burn Sugar” being a prime example of the literary identity
exploration.
“Burn Sugar” is a story about making a cake and searching for and realizing
one’s identity—activities which actually merge in the text. The short story features a
mother and a daughter being far apart because of the latter’s emigration. The two
characters keep in touch, and one of the forms of their contact is the mother’s cake
which she sends to her daughter every Christmas. They used to bake together when the
daughter was a child, but now the cake is a little different because of an indefinable
funny smell it has every time it comes in a box from Trinidad. One year, however, the
cake does not arrive, which sets off the daughter’s memories, emotional reactions and
questions about the past, place, family and belonging, and it prompts her attempt at
making the ‘mother’s’ cake on her own. While baking, the daughter recalls the details
of the cake’s appearance, taste, smell and its preparation as she remembers it from her
childhood, and she lets her mind relish in associations past and present. She remembers
burning white sugar, adding it to cake to make it taste different and contemplating the
51
relationship with her mother. The cake needs burn sugar “maybe like she need mother
to taste different. She wonder if the Mother need her like she need the Mother—which
of them was essential to the other—which of them was the burn sugar” (35)? What is
hinted at in this short story is the overwhelming mutual need, the strength of the bond,
the desire to be different from the mother, and the realization of the actual sameness.
Furthermore, the transformation of white sugar into burn sugar makes her think of her
becoming a woman: “she remember a burn sugar and she wonder, wonders if change
ever come gently ... Her own change had come upon her gently ... by surprise ... in the
night of blood ... (36). And different shades of brown created by gradual pouring of
burn sugar into batter reminds her of various tones of brown skin: “at first it turn from
grey to brown—just like me she think, then it turn a dark brown like she sister, then an
even darker brown—almost black—the colour of her brother” (37). The various stages
of cake preparation come to represent different aspects of life – the mother daughter
relationship, coming of age, or a question of distinctiveness connected to skin color.
The fact that the absence of the cake has triggered the memories of her childhood
and her mother, and that it has made her bake the cake by herself provoked her to ask
after the meaning of it. She comes to realize that although she is different from her
mother, they are of the same source and “Here, over this bucket—it was a plastic
bowl—she met—they met and came together to share in this old ritual of transformation
and metamorphosis” (37). Preparing ‘her mother’s cake’ links her to her parent and
discloses the roots they share. She does not only think about her close family, but she
goes far back to her ancestors. This ‘traveling’ back in time makes her understand the
reason of the cake’s funny smell. She compares it to the smell of exile: “the burn sugar
is something like we past, we history, and you know that funny smell I always tell you
about? [...] I now know what it is—is the symbol of loneliness and separation—exile
52
from family and home and tribe” (38). Traveling in space has disconnected her from her
past and her heritage. It is such material expression of culture like food that brings her
to realize the disconnectedness. She asks herself a question “Was there indeed no
meaning to memory, or the cake, or the funny smell” (39)”, and even though she can
hear her mother laugh at her and urge her to comprehend that a cake is for eating and not
thinking about (ibid.), she concludes by saying that there simply has to be a meaning.
Food is one of the ‘main characters’ of this story – the black cake signifies a lot, since it
triggers associations of the past, the family, the roots, and the process of its preparation
becomes a means of coming to terms with separation from all the things it expresses.
3.6. Sharon H. Nelson’s “The Woman’s Testimony”—
Cooking and Gender Roles in Immigrant Experience
Besides food as an embodiment of cultural contrasts, Sharon H. Nelson uses
food to open the theme of gender roles in contrastive cultures in her “The Woman’s
Testimony”. Nelson’s writing is substantially influenced by the multiethnic
environment of Montreal as well as by her Jewish background. In her poems and
essays, she explores extensively the constructions of language, gender, sexuality, social
justice and Jewishness (“Biography”). In connection to the roles of women and its
linkage with culture, she remarks:
I am a woman, and in the process of considering the Jewish and Judaic content of
my writing, I realize that my womanhood is intimately and inextricably entwined
with Jewishness. The only way I know how to be a woman is to be a Jewish
woman. (“Making Cabbage Rolls”)
Her essay “Making Cabbage Rolls, Making Culture” cover the themes of gender,
culture, politics, spirituality and religion, and writing and interconnects them with an
53
everyday activity of preparing food. A brief glance at the ideas in this essay can
contribute to the analysis of “The Woman’s Testimony”.
Nelson speaks of multiple significations of food: its connectedness with
memories, its cultural dimension (preparing Jewish food in a non Jewish environment as
a ritual), its political dimension (preparing Jewish food in a non Jewish environment as
a refusal of an imperialist culture), its communal importance, its implications for gender
roles and the confluence of making food and making poems (“The poems are like
cabbage rolls, delicate bundles we create and fill with meaning”). Nelson concludes her
essay by saying that:
However private and personal women's labour or in what isolation we may
sometimes prepare food, the preparations and products are gifts offered to a
community. Like the texts and spiritual journeys to which they relate and which
they often reflect, traditional foods and holiday preparations make a purposeful
statement within a community and about it. When women are confined by
theology to private practice and private space, the spiritual dimension is expressed
via the incarnations of everyday life.
Nelson is also an author of the statement “Writing about food is writing about the
women who prepare it, the rituals important to us, the communities we build and foster,
and skills, recipes, and art we share” (“Making Cabbage Rolls”) and she implements this
idea in her poem “The Woman’s Testimony” in which most of her views from this essay
are transformed into a poetic form .
“The Woman’s Testimony” represents Nelson’s attitudes to gender and Jewish
diaspora, and these are communicated through images of food and cooking. The Jewish
woman in the poem is aware of the female submissive role in a Jewish culture – woman
has to serve food to men (49), and the subdued position is intensified after coming to
54
America where Jewish women start to be compared to the American ideal of beauty—
:breasts are upturned/bellies flat (9 10). Jewish women suffer in the hostile environment
with its emphasis on different physical qualities; they are “saddled with nightmares of
america/of never being/tall enough blonde enough light enough straight enough” (15
17). Yet another American betrayal they are faced with is the traditional Jewish cooking
being from them: “you have taken the pots we inherited from our grandmothers/you
have taken the recipes we inherited/and make us rewrite them” (19 21). The Jew boys
no longer want to marry “a girl who make excellent yeastdough” (5) because now they
desire women with “bodies lonk and lanky” (11). And the short and darkhaired Jewish
women “lie in [their] beds in the night fat and lumpy/and weep because you cannot love
us/you, grandsons of men who loved our grandmothers” (29 31). The essentiality of
cooking and food to Jewish women becomes evident when the woman narrator
compares the traditional cooking which they were deprived of to “art forms” (6) and
“stuff of which we make our lives” (7), which is a confirmation of Nelson’s claim that
for women in many cultures “food is sustenance, ritual, art form, means of
communication” (“Making Cabbage Rolls”). The Jewish women in the poem would
like to continue with the preparation of traditional food so that they can contribute to
community, but when they serve the men “such ritual delicacies/
[they] will not eat” (50 51). And although in their dreams the men come back to the
dishes their grandfathers dreamed to eat – fat ducks, fat carp, shtreimls (70 71) which
they could not afford in “starving hungry belabored poland” (44) – they choose to be
hungry in America. The end of the testimony –
we cannot cook for you
we are not good for you
you cannot eat
55
it is all because of us because of us because we are
too like our grandmothers unlike our grandmothers
:from this you make books. (74 79)
hints at the transformations caused by the diaspora experience , which, however, do not
affect all aspects of women’s lives. The dominant role of men has been strengthened by
stripping the women off the traditional cooking, which was the sphere they used to be in
charge of. In “The Woman’s Testimony” Sharon H. Nelson applies food references to
point to the issues of gender roles and their transformations due to immigration and
cultural clashes.
3.7. Food, Politics and Human Psyche in Kristjana Gunnars’ The Prowler
Food, or rather its absence, is reflective of the issues of power distribution and
world politics in Kristjana Gunnars’ The Prowler , which proves that food in
contemporary Canadian writing by women is used to comment on a great variety of
aspects of our reality. Migration from Iceland to the US and Canada was formative for
Kristjana Gunnars who, similarly to all of the already mentioned authors, engages the
themes of exile, displacement, loss, longing and absence in her poetry and prose. By the
absence Gunnars means “the sense that you are always without something essential; a
fear that you have forgotten something important or left a part of you behind” (qtd. in
Tschofen). However, she sees the exile from the positive view as well because she feels
that “only by ‘leaving culture' can an artist gain it” (ibid.), and that the exile also means
the love of her origins (ibid.). The Prowler draws on her immigrant experience in that it
is Gunnars’ attempts at writing of the Self. In this book Gunnars is unafraid to
unwreathe the threads of her personal history, thus encouraging readers to face their own
stories too. It is entwined not only from the personal stories, but also from stories of a
56
nation and of storytelling itself. The Prowler stems from the experience of exile and
searches for identity through the multitude of fragmented stories. Is there a place for
food references in this novel?
The book is both a personal memoir and a story of “people trapped in a web of
superpower politics” (Gunnars, front inside cover) and it is the latter dimension of the
novel that employs food references to make statements about the historical, the social,
and the political forces. Gunnars admits the presence of the political in the novel when
she says: “In the metastory behind the story ..., there is a hint of politics. The text
allows for certain backdrops” (153); and in another place of the book she concedes that
perhaps “what we have here is social realism” (71), implying that she comments on the
social and political milieu in which the stories of The Prowler originate and take place.
It is at this level of the text that food references are most frequent. Their employment in
this context proves that food has relevance not only in relation to ethnicity and culture,
which are the themes frequently in the centre of attention, but also in connection with
the politics and power distribution, and that it is not only the choice of food and its
variety, but also its lack that can function as a formative force.
The image of hunger recurs throughout the book to refer to the problems of
political manipulation. The main character of the book grows up in Iceland –
the country where people died of starvation. For eleven hundred years sheep
collapsed in the mountain passes, horses fell dead in the ash covered pastures,
fishermen were too tired to drag nets out of the sea. Children faded away in the
sod huts from malnutrition. Old men ate their skin jackets. (39)
Food shortage is the ever present condition here. The problem of hunger is accentuated
by the girl’s sister’s decision not to eat. In a situation where the nation is starving, she is
determined to refuse food because she does not want to be who she is (18). Her
57
rejection of food can be perceived as her protest against the state of things. The lack of
food which afflicts the Icelanders is seen as a political weapon. The author mentions the
Danish trade monopoly: “The white Inuit were prevented from leaving the island and
prevented from trading with other nations. As a result there was not enough food.
Population decreased” (126). The girl also refers to the US which send care packages to
the country, but at the same time builds a nuclear base on the island. Drawing attention
to this political calculation, the girl comments on her visits at her great aunt’s place:
When I visited the old woman, she always gave me oranges from the Base. ... The
Americans have done us nothing but good, she said.
Many years later, in America, there was a broadcast on the nuclear
capacity of the United States. I happened to see this, and there was a map of the
Nordic countries, Iceland and Greenland. (46)
Food is used as a bribe, as a means of exercising influence and achieving political goals.
Hunger also forces many people in these stories into migration. There are North
Koreans fleeing to South Korea where American have enough milk (65) or Icelanders
moving from the countryside to cities in search for food (78). Towards the end of the
book, the main character is standing in line at Customs and Immigration in New York
and she is thinking about how to refute psychoanalysis. She comes up with an argument
“that human psychology is determined by politics. And politics is determined by diet.
That is, those who eat best win” (155). Kristjana Gunnars’ The Prowler demonstrates
the close relationship between food, politics and its impact on human psyche, and
consequently on stories into which this linkage penetrates.
58
3.8. Sharing Food as a Transcultural Act in Beth Brant’s “Food and Spirits”
Moving closer to the view of food as having a transcultural potential is Beth
Brant’s “Food and Spirits” in which boundaries are crossed and interaction between
diverse cultures is established through sharing food. To adopt transcultural perspective,
one has to adopt anti racist attitude free of harmful labeling and stereotypes. Native
American writers are often burdened with certain expectations and the ones resisting
them are ignored. Kateri Damm comments that
Too often, the image of the Indigenous writer which comes to mind will be one of
a “storyteller,” “traditional” in appearance and dress, dark skinned, raven haired,
who uses “legends” or myths” to teach the audience about his or her culture. This
highly romanticized image discounts those who do not fit easily. (13)
Beth Brant herself has an experience with this kind of stereotyping springing from
cultural ignorance:
After her reading a white woman came up to her and said, “I don’t see why you go
on about being a half breed. You look white enough!” This was another way of
saying Brant did not look Indian enough. Her Indianness was erased. (qtd. in
Damm)
However, Brant is fully aware of and her Mohawk heritage and her respect for First
Nations’ beliefs and worldviews penetrates her writing. That, however, does not imply
that other influences do not find their way into her works
“Food & Spirits” is a short story which resists rooted stereotypes about Native
American characters and makes use of food imagery to draw attention to cultural
distinctiveness, and to address an issue of intercultural communication and storytelling
at the same time. The main protagonist is an eighty year old Mohawk Elijah who
travels, in a white dress shirt, new corduroy pants and a fresh short haircut, from a
59
reservation in Canada to Detroit to visit his twin granddaughters. Even though his
respect for land and his beliefs mark his Native Americanness, he is a Native American
living in today’s world and he is able to cope with it. And it is food that helps him
orientate in a new environment of a large city.
For his journey he takes with him “a bag of whitefish, frozen and wrapped in
newspaper, and a separate bag of fry bread because, as [he] said, ‘They don’t get this
kind of food in Detroit’” (68). He caught the fish himself and the bread was made by
the twins’ mother. This food becomes crucial to the story as it establishes
communication between diverse characters and facilitates Elijah’s familiarization with
the new surroundings. While waiting for his delayed granddaughters, Elijah shares the
bread with various people, and so the sentence “Have a piece” (73, 76) reoccurs at
several places in the story. On the bus he offers the bread to a lady sitting next to him,
which can be seen as a gesture of inviting her to his life and to his stories. The two talk
quite openly about their families or other aspects of the world they live in. The act of
sharing food is interconnected with verbal communication. When Elijah starts to talk
with a young black man playing Pacman at the Detroit bus station and he, of course,
offers him the fry bread, the food arouses interest in the other culture:
This is good bread. You got a whole bag of it? That all you got to eat?’
‘No, I just brought it for the twins. You can’t get this kinda food in
Detroit. What kinda food do you get in Detroit?’
‘Well, you can get chicken or ribs or MacDonald’s over there. But the
best food is what my mama makes. Cornbread that’ll melt in your mouth! Hey
man, you Mexican or somethin’?’ ...
‘I’m Mohawk. Indian.’ (74)
60
Sharing food seems to loosen one’s tongue and evoke memories; it makes one willing to
communicate with the other.
Crucial to the story is a ‘FOOD & SPIRITS’ bar where the interaction between
various cultures from the margins of the society starts to take place via sharing food and
stories. Not knowing what “food & spirits” in the Western culture means and what
connotation it may have, Elijah enters the bar with a question: “What does food and
spirits mean? What kinda food you got here? What kinda spirits” (76)? He perceives
through the optics of his culture, but is willing to know more. At first, the owner of the
bar, a slim dark man, is reserved and offers sandwiches, burgers, fries and dinks (ibid.),
but after Elijah gives him a piece of tasty fry bread, the conversation starts to be more
easy going. Alana, a prostitute with a skin of “the color of unfinished pine” (77), who is
also sitting in the bar, is offered the bread, too, and so the whiskey spirits, gin spirits and
rum spirits are exchanged for the Indian spirit, the spirit keeper and the spirit of the
workin’ girls (78 79). Alana and Archibald do not only share Elijah’s food, but they
temporarily share his view of life and his beliefs.
The act of splitting food between the people in the bar sparks off sharing the
memories good and bad – Alana remembers her grandmother’s fry cake, but also a death
of her one year old daughter and the ignorance of doctors. Elijah, however, always
emphasizes the good side of people and life; his belief in essential goodness, even after
seeing a white man coming and quickly leaving the bar because of their skin color, is
disarming: “‘Here, have another piece of bread. When you bite into something like this,
you know how good life is.’ He handed a piece to Alana and took one for himself” (83).
When his twins come, Elijah is perfectly happy. They all eat the fry bread, they laugh
and he is sure that “Sharing food was the best thing people could do together” (85).
When one shares food, he welcomes people to his world and allows for creating ties.
61
“Outside the sign blinked off, then on. FOOD & SPIRITS. FOOD & SPIRITS. Inside
there were music, stories, good food, and friends. Elijah was content” (85). In this short
story Beth Brant points to the necessity of communication between people and cultures
and she presents this view through entwining eating with stories. Food works as a
means of establishing closer contacts, and this even across cultures. Sharing Elijah’s
traditional food he is so proud of triggers communication with people of different
backgrounds. In this respect, Brant’s literary treatment of food is close to the ideal of
transculturalism.
3.9. Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach—
Food as a Means of Switching Between Cultural Identities
Even a more evident shift towards transcultural perspectives can be seen in
Monkey Beach , a novel by Eden Robinson, a First Nations writer born on the Haisla
Nation Kitamaat Reserve, in fact a first Haisla novelist ever. Her experience with
stereotypes concerning First Nations, as well as other ethnocultural minorities, is similar
to Brant’s. Eden Robinson is aware of categorizations often imposed on First Nation
members whether in the sphere of literary production or everyday reality. Her first
literary deed was a collection of short stories titled Traplines, which focused on
dysfunctional families and violent lives of contemporary urban youth (Methot) and
hardly at all addressed Native American issues. Robinson explains: “People assumed I
couldn’t write anything that wasn’t Native because I’m Native. But I’m fascinated with
serial killers, psychopaths and sociopaths. I wrote about non Native characters just to
show them I could” (qtd. in Methot). Her statement hints not only at the unjustifiability
of labeling from the outside, but also at the uselessness of restricting barriers in the
world of unabating ethnocultural mingle. Robinson’s next book, Monkey Beach ,
62
constitutes yet another cross cultural step—she leaves the previously examined urban
landscape for the sceneries of a Haisla reservation to attempt at the recording of a
disappearing way of life and capturing the essence of her native culture. However, the
characters of the novel live amidst clashing cultures and try to survive through melding
them, thus acting transculturally. They do not fit ready made classification. Robinson
resists preconceptions and a deep rooted desire to categorize. Her life and work
illustrate contemporary social and cultural developments in which categories and
boundaries are no longer rigid because they can be blurred, mixed, merged and
(re)crossed.
Monkey Beach makes use of food imagery to the record lifeways of Haisla
culture struggling for survival, but juxtaposition of traditional Haisla food items with
food typical of the Western diet also points to the existence of transcultural behavior in
the community. References to customary foods are plentiful and include an explanation
of food vocabulary (93); description of a taste of salmonberries which people who
haven’t grown up with them call “watery and seedy” (76), but which Lisa, the main
character of the novel, describes as “a soft sweetness, a gentle flavour” (ibid.); a
mention of craving for “cotton ball soft” home made bread (11) or a two page long
recipe for an oolichan grease: “Fill a large metal boiler with water. Light the fire pit
beneath the boiler and bring water to boil. Then add the ripened oolichans and stir
slowly until cooked (they will float slightly off the bottom)” (86). Lisa occasionally
refuses traditional Haisla food habits—she is even repulsed by them, like when she
watches her mother eat cockles (26), and she is euphoric when she goes to Dairy Queen
(29). She eats Kraft dinners with wieners and some grape Kool Aid (52) at her uncle’s
who is an Indian Rights activist and an Elvis fan at the same time. However, she
sometimes “wished summer would never end. I wished I could do this all year and
63
never go back to school. I wished I could pick berries and go fishing with Mama oo and
spend all my days wandering” (253), and she also tries to cook a dinner of rice, canned
fish and seaweed (333) – a version of a traditional meal. Identities are and not clear cut
in Monkey Beach ; the characters live in between cultures and so they can eat Oreo
cookies and talk about Haisla shape shifters at the same time (210). Contradicting
superficial expectations, Robinson portrays people who are in a situation of clashing
cultures and are able to draw on both/all of them. The diversity of food references and
the mixture of Western and Haisla eating habits and other cultural practices in the novel
provide clear evidence.
3.10. Conclusion
Food influences numerous aspects of our lives, ranging from personal identity
questions to larger structures such as world politics. Contemporary Canadian women
authors reflect on these developments. For women writers, food is one of the prime
mediums of experiencing the world around. Looking at the employment of food
imagery in their works can reveal the nature of personal perceptions as well as numerous
discourses influencing contemporary Canada. Through food these writers address
problems brought about by multiculturalism of Canadian society as such, as well as its
political formulation. Food becomes a means of tackling experience of clashing
cultures, family relationships, gender roles, power, politics and many more. These
works speaking from various ethnocultural backgrounds, hint at both the universality
and the distinctiveness that food imagery can represent and convey. They also prove
that communication across cultures is possible when one ‘listens’ carefully, without
restrictive labels and prejudice.
64
4. Food as a Transcultural Metaphor in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms
3. Surprise bonus question worth an extra 15 per cent of your test results.
a) What do you think is Canadian Culture?
b) Does it matter?
c) Both a and b are correct.
d) A, b and c are incorrect.
e) All of the above
f) None of the above
...
Examiner’s note: There is no mark assigned upon completion of this
examination because completion is not possible. You will, in some way or form,
enact and (re)configure Canadian Culture for the rest of your life.
Thank you for your participation.
(Goto, “Canadian Culture 201”)
65
4.1. Introduction
Transculturalism as the manifestation of the latest development in understanding
and treating situations of clashing cultures is reflected in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of
Mushrooms , and it is through food references that the reader can comprehend the
essence and value of transcultural acts. Analyzing food references in this novel exposes
various aspects of immigrant experience since they are used to describe lives of the three
generations of Japanese Canadian family and their varied attitudes to dealing with the
position in between cultures. However, food imagery is not employed by Goto only to
depict the ways of struggling with dual heritage and possible transcultural solutions. It
appears in numerous other situations related to living in Canadian multicultural
society—food is referred to when issues of gender, globalization and capitalism,
colonialism and racism, or ethnic and racial stereotypes are addressed in the novel. This
variety reflects the diversity of food motifs in the works of other contemporary
Canadian women writers, as well as the scope of food studies. Focusing on food
references in Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms displays the diversity of contemporary
discourse on culture and identities in various multicultural milieus and proves that food
can serve as a metaphor of transcultural perspective.
66
4.2. Hiromi Goto as a Transcultural Writer
Hiromi Goto’s literary work manifests transcultural characteristics which
certainly originate in her personal experience of immigrant in betweenness. Until the
publication of her novel Chorus of Mushrooms in 1994, the Japanese Canadian writers
dealt primarily with the topic of their internment during the World War II. Writing of
Hiromi Goto explores the contemporary facets of Japanese immigration into Alberta.
Most of her work concentrates on the feeling of being transplanted from Japan to the
hostile Canadian prairies and on the problems of adapting to different environments.
Her literary work draws on her own life and she explains that “It was actually a really
positive place for me to begin, .... The idea of knowing yourself before you start writing
about others could not be a negative thing” (qtd. in Grosse). Principle motifs in Goto’s
work include Japanese mythology and folk tales, landscape and family relationships,
through which she addresses the question of identity constructions and expresses her
strong anti racist stance. Hiromi Goto devotes her writing to the issues related to
ethnocultural identities and the colliding of cultures, as well as to the questions of
universal relevance, such as love or family. However, she attempts to present all these
subject matters through narratives that are not mere copies of the already existing ones.
Goto’s personal experience was a formative force affecting her writing and
transcultural views. She was born in Chiba ken in Japan in 1966 and three years later,
her family migrated to Canada. After eight years of living on the west coast of British
Columbia, they moved to Nanton in Alberta, a town of 1300 inhabitants, where
Hiromi’s father fulfilled his dream of starting a mushroom farm which figures in her
first novel Chorus of Mushrooms . Goto’s early move exerts a strong influence upon her
writing and appears as a recurring framework which offers a space for addressing the
issue of Canadian racism against people perceived as foreign. Her immigrant
67
experience incited her interest in the issue of crossing the boundaries, both physical and
mental. Therefore, her characters find themselves in spaces between cultures. They
often experience transplanting from one cultural sphere to another. As a consequence,
they are not perceived as the “typical” members of neither of them. They struggle for
some space to fit in and in this way they create alternative identities. These
characteristics of Goto’s work make her a transcultural author.
Goto’s literary debut already anticipated her approaches to immigrant
experience. Chorus of Mushrooms was published in 1994 in the NeWest press in
Edmonton and it won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book in the
Caribbean and Canadian Region and was also a co winner of the Canada –Japan Book
Award. Chorus of Mushrooms exemplifies the notion of transcultural fiction. It
explores shifts and confrontations of cultures through the lives of three generations of
women in a Japanese family living in a small prairie town. It presents intergenerational
conflicts and cross generational attachments through the main character, a
granddaughter figure, Murasaki or Muriel, as she is called by her assimilated parents.
The novel makes use of the tradition of magic realism –it mixes reality with fantasy and
portrays the harsh environment of the prairies “wherein the major characters find the
magical detours of supernatural” (Chivers). In many instances the supernatural
functions metaphorically to accentuate differences and intensify feelings of alienation
and displacement. The transition between reality and the supernatural underscores the
experience of crossing the boundaries.
Magic realism, fantasy and Japanese mythology, which were introduced in
Chorus of Mushrooms , still play a crucial role in Goto’s writing, and they are often
implemented to stress the experience of colliding cultures. Goto’s attraction to Japanese
mythology originated in her childhood, when she was told Japanese stories by her
68
grandmother and her father. The Kappa Child , published in 2001, constituted an even
more complete move in the direction of fantasy and science fiction. It talks about the
transplantation of Japanese Canadian sisters from the lush Canadian west coast to the
prairie landscape, while drawing on the intertext of Little House on the Prairie by Laura
Ingalls Wilder. It features a version of the Japanese folklore figure of the Kappa – “a
small creature with a frog’s body, a turtle’s shell and a bowl shaped head that holds
water” (Pivato and Powell). Even though the novel explores the transformation of
culture associated to immigration or moving to the different environment, the
mythological and the magical becomes the author’s primary concern. As she declares in
her interview for BookSense.com: “In The Kappa Child , I was more interested in the
magical elements that a kappa would bring into North American terrain. One answer to
the question, ‘What if…’”. Nevertheless, Goto’s interjection of the Japanese folklore
figure into a different cultural context can be perceived as an examination of position
between contrasting cultures.
Goto’s magic realism approaches are blended into her novel for young readers
The Water of Possibility . It brings the theme of being caught in a new environment to
the attention of the younger audience. Her book of short stories Hopeful Monsters also
focuses on the problem of displacement, and it explores “social readings of bodily
difference by situating unusual characters in everyday plots” (Chivers). It depicts
genetically abnormal creatures, humans included, who try hard to adapt to the
environment they find themselves in. In Goto’s writings, adjusting to new conditions is
closely connected with coming to terms with one’s otherness and to constructing
identities across various types of boundaries.
All the books mentioned touch upon the problem of racism and thus form an
important part of Goto’s anti racist work which, however, does not narrow down to her
69
literary activities. Goto started to promote her clear anti racist stance in her very first
novel. Murasaki, the granddaughter figure of Chorus of Mushrooms , states: “I never felt
different until I saw the look crossing people’s faces. I don’t know if it’s better to come
to realize, or not realize at all. When I didn’t know, I was happily innocent. When
I finally noticed, the measure of my discontent knew no boundaries” (175). Murasaki’s
attitude parallels the author’s own experience with racism. Goto confirms that when she
was a young girl growing up as a Japanese Canadian, she had rather “not see it or name
it because that would mean it existed” (qtd. in Grosse). It was during her university
studies that she was finally able to face this issue in her writing and discuss openly the
prejudices and stereotypes that are still alive in Canadian society.
Landscape is one of the crucial motives of Goto’s literary work since she is
strongly aware of its effects upon an individual. She claims that “The place I’m
inhabiting at (a particular) period has an impact on me...in terms of emotion or in terms
of energy – ... My experience in the landscape will filter into the writing, so they are not
separate” (qtd. in Grosse). The incorporation of Japanese folk tales allows for re
imagining the space of Japan into the Canadian landscape. Goto’s approach to the
landscape is often transcultural—she inserts a Japanese mythological figure into the
Canadian landscape in her The Kappa Child to modify the character of the landscape
and Murasaki’s father in Chorus of Mushrooms manages to “convince moist mushrooms
to grow in a desert” (60). Goto’s books often contain instances of re creating Japan in
the territory of Canada. Elements of Japanese environment are transplanted into the
Canadian landscape to illustrate the crossing of cultural spheres.
Family relationships and love are also matters of great interest and importance in
Chorus of Mushrooms , as well as in the rest of Goto’s literary work, and they are
frequently treated with respect to her immigrant experience. She believes that “... much
70
of our behavior has been formed through the influence of family dynamics or as the
direct result of separation from family.” [These families can be those] “we choose to
call our own, the one we are born into, the ones we come from” (“Goto, Hiromi”). Goto
assumes there are rich and varied forms of family in our society and a substantial
amount of time is spent by attempts at coming to terms with them. Families in her texts
often experience switching between cultural spheres and adaptation to new
environments. That is why this theme of Goto’s writing can be associated with the
transcultural dimension of her work.
Transcultural aspects establish Goto as an author of transcultural fiction. To
read such authors means “to recognize that literature depends on the whole of culture, of
history and social traditions, without reducing diversity to ethnocultural enclaves”
(Hutcheon, Introduction 5). Goto understands that present day Canadian culture means
a cultural exchange and that new hybrid societies cannot do with old structures and
ideals. The new and adjusted ones are necessary and even more fruitful. Suwanda
Sugunasiri points out that “Canadian literature is an ocean fed by many a river in which
flow the tears and joys of our 70 or so cultural groups” (qtd. in Hutcheon, Introduction
9). And Linda Hutcheon adds that “the merging of those rivers has not left any of the
waters unchanged” (ibid.) Transcultural authors, Hiromi Goto included, move beyond
simple acceptance of different cultural spheres to embrace the possibility of crossing the
borders between them and learning how to profit from the multifaceted cultural
competence.
71
4.3. Transcultural Aspects of Food in Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms
Chorus of Mushrooms is both an imaginative re creation of Japanese culture and
a re telling of Canadian identity, which is achieved, among other means, by food. The
novel features a story of an immigrant family of the Tonkatsus whi inhabit the space in
between two cultures. Victor Turner calls this space “liminality” (Mårald 5).
“Liminality” is originally an anthropological term, and according to Turner it is an
environment “whence novel configurations of ideas and relations may arise” (ibid.).
The Tonkatsu family with their identity quests and consequent adoption of transcultural
perspective proves that. The attention is focused on the three generations of women and
the way they cope with the ‘in between’ position and establish their identities within it.
The Tonkatsu women’s experience bears resemblance to stories of many immigrants to
Canada. As Burnet and Palmer point out, in most immigrant families attitudes towards
all aspects of ethnicity, language including, change from one generation to the next
(212). The generations of the Tonkatsus each approach their dual heritage differently.
The total cultural assimilation of the second generation is in contrast with transcultural
attitudes of the grandmother and especially the granddaughter of the family. Naoe and
Murasaki, each of them in their own way, eventually realize that juggling two cultures
can be, unlike the the absolute assimilation or strict adhering to original traditions, a
valuable development. And it is also food that makes them realize their transcultural
identities.
The environment which the three generations of this family inhabit has a
substantial effect on their identities because the small prairie town of Nanton in Alberta
is full of people who often judge the others by their origin and appearance. The
Tonkatsus are not a part of the larger Japanese community of Nanton; they are an odd
little occurrence, and are treated accordingly by the white majority. The difference
72
between them and the dominant group is a visible one, hence the more intensive racial
prejudice. Murasaki, the granddaughter figure of the novel, comments on her first
realization of the existence of racism in her surroundings: “... I came to realize that the
shape of my face, my eyes, the colour of my hair affected how people treated me” (175).
Members of the Tonkatsu family are faced with a difficult situation—as immigrants,
they are affected by a number of psychological, sociocultural and economic forces.
Their lives exist “between a yesterday always alive within, but situated now in another
country and culture to which the term ‘host society’ is usually applied” (Itwaru 13). The
ways in which the three generations of women struggle and cope with the external and
internal pressures vary, and so do their food ways.
Naoe is the oldest member of the Tonkatsu family and even though she seems to
be relentless in sticking to her Japanese identity and resistant to change at first, she is
one of the characters who ultimately undergoes transformation and becomes willing to
embrace aspects of Canadianness, including certain Canadian foods, too. Her obstinacy
in keeping her Japanese traditions is emphasized by her motionless sitting in the chair in
the hall, her unrelenting flood of Japanese talk and her craving for Japanese food. In the
house where “kitchen smells of stewing pork and boiled potatoes” (Goto 42) because
Naoe’s daughter Keiko has chosen to adopt Canadian foodways, Naoe “ate treats she
had hidden in her dresser drawers and threw the dry meat out of the window for the
coyotes who waited every evening” (178). To preserve the link with her home country,
Naoe has friends to send her salted squid and rice crackers from Japan. These
traditional foods connect her to her roots and help her feel more comfortable in a
different culture forced onto her by her own assimilated daughter: “I have a piece of a
dried salted squid in my pocket and I tear a bit off. I must chew
73
and chew. Like beef jerky, but much tougher. I chew and the juices begin to fill my
mouth. It gives me energy, this squid, ...” (14). Japanese food gives Naoe the strength
to oppose her child who has shed her Japaneseness, and it constitutes a link to her
cultural heritage and her memories that she is not willing to cast off.
A number of Naoe’s memories of the past and her childhood are connected to
food, which hints at the role of food as a salient formative force and at its close relation
to cultural identity as well as personal memories. One of her vivid recollections is how
“[Her] brother and [she] drank misoshiru from black lacquer bowls and crunched daikon
left over from the pickling bins” (5). In addition to Japanese food names, one gets to
know the social significance and practices surrounding food in Japan through Naoe’s
stories of her childhood. She also mentions that her family used to be rich because they
had “many storehouses filled to the beams with last season’s rice and soft dried
persimmons and the sweetest, smoothest casks of sake. There was fresh fish and great
urns filled with shōyu and miso ” (7). This proves that food is often a social status
marker, which is further supported by yet another Naoe’s recollection—a recollection of
her brother and herself playing going to a party “dressed up in [their] richest clothes,
pouring sake into imaginary cups, eating sashimi and the tender meat of sweetly stewed
eels” (9). The intensity and colorfulness of Naoe’s memories of Japanese food is both
the cause and the effect of her desire for it. The craving is heightened by the difference
of Canadian eating habits. One of Naoe’s memories from the past is followed by this
complaint: “Keiko is at Lucky Dollar. Buying pork chops and steaks and macaroni and
cheese. What I wouldn’t do for a nice chawanmushi ” (49)! Naoe’s experience illustrate
the relation of food to socioeconomic status, the cultural identity and individual psyche.
Naoe’s fondness of the Japanese food and her attempts to pass on the traditions
of her homeland affects the other two women of the family in different ways. In case of
74
her second generation offspring, her daughter Keiko, it meets with substantial hostility.
Since Keiko has chosen to “hide beneath a fluffy skin of a white sheep” (175), she has
no understanding for her mother’s Japanese speeches and offers of Japanese delicacies:
“Where did that come from?” Keiko so mad. Always a peak to her
obstinate upper lip. I nod and smile.
“ Keiko mo dōzo itadaite kudasai ,” I offer and raise some shrivelled squid
legs to her pointing finger. Her lips turn white and she slams the kitchen door
behind. (14)
Naoe’s attempts are vain—Keiko has decided to close the door behind her heritage and
does not want her mother to remind her of this fact. Just because Naoe is overlooked,
overheard and considered culturally illiterate by the many, it does not mean she is not
able to make her own choices. She does not care what others think, and she tries to
initiate her granddaughter Muriel/Murasaki to Japanese traditions. Murasaki is open to
Naoe’s influence, in spite of Keiko’s assimilative upbringing. She is the person who
“sneaks the packages up to my [Naoe’s] room when everyone is asleep. [...] She brings
the packages and we crumble osenbei together in my narrow bed. [...] (15). Murasaki,
unlike her mother, is willing to embrace her roots and the person who inspires her is her
grandmother Naoe.
Even though Naoe initially appears to be the most Japanese and static character
of the novel, she finally broadens her identity through transcultural acts. The breaking
point is her decision to leave her chair and the Tonkatsu’s house she has been inhabiting
for twenty long years. She decides to revisit her life in every aspect, to nourish not only
her Japanese, but also her Canadian identity, and also to let Keiko and Murasaki develop
without her constant presence (76). Naoe’s “departure from Nanton signals a refusal to
remain fixed in the single location” (Sasano). When packing for her journey, although
75
desiring some Japanese groceries, she concludes that “travellers can’t be choosers” (80)
and “She muttered as she chose a wedge of cheese, a pomegranate, pita bread, nasty
tasteless thing but it was light and it would keep, an apple, a package of Burns wieners,
did she have no pride” (79)? During her journey, she decides to make up for the years
of Keiko’s Western style cuisine and to move away from this imposed Canadianness in
order to cross into Japaneseness, and she decides to go to some “good restaurant [...].
Except for a Smitty’s or something, I don’t know. And there’s nothing there that I
haven’t been eating for the last twenty years! No offense to you, Keiko, but my tongue
quivers for food of substance. The substance of memory” (141). She desires to revisit
her Japaneseness fully, through ‘real’ Japanese meal. And she finally finds some:
Ahh, sip some tea. Eat. Crispy green gai lan and slightly bitter on my tongue.
Shrimp and squid and scallop too, all salty crackle hot. And crispy mein, deep
fried and such a sauce. My face all flush with taste, it fills the ache my belly has
been missing after twenty long years of boiled beef and macaroni. Certainly, there
were times when I had squid and osenbei too. And once I even made sekihan for
Murasaki. But everything always from a cardboard box. Not spread before me on
table with so many choices, ... Such food. It nourishes more than my body.
(146 147)
Through eating Japanese food, her coming back to her roots has been completed and her
Japanese identity experienced as fully as possible, making her ready and willing to
comprise her Canadian self.
Since Naoe has always been aware of stereotypes people in between cultures
have to put up with, she decides to challenge them in embracing her Canadianness. By
her participation in a bull riding competition which is perceived as a typical “rural white
Albertan” performance at the end of the novel, she proves it can be successfully
76
reproduced by someone who is not considered a hundred percent Canadian. Sasano
confirms this assumption by saying that “By taking bull riding over from cowboys, she
puts into question the idea that cultural differences separate immigrants from ‘real
Canadians’”. Naoe plays with her difference. She enjoys the participation in the white
Canadian tradition with all its aspects, even food and its smells. The smell of “hot dogs
and coffee” is a part of it. Naoe has become able to draw on both cultures. While
relishing Japanese food, she can also partake in cultural expressions of the host society
and even enjoy it.
Keiko, as a second generation woman of the Tonkatsu immigrant family, has
chosen a Canadian melting pot and has assimilated to the host society through changed
food habits. As a part of a “zero sum process of acculturation” (Portes and Rumbaut
209), Keiko has shed the old, assimilated the new and exchanged Japanese food for
Canadian diet. Her mother Naoe disagrees with it and comments:
Keiko. My daughter who has forsaken identity. Forsaken! So biblical, but it suits
her, my little convert. Converted from rice and daikon to wieners and beans.
Endless evenings of tedious roast chicken and honey smoked ham and overdone
rump roast. My daughter you were raised on fish cakes and pickled plums. This
Western food has changed you ... . (13)
Her food habits have altered as a consequence of migration and this change has been
conscious in her case. The fear of being perceived as different and a desire to reduce the
difference and bring about the hoped for psychological and social contentment is
responsible for Keiko’s preference of Western food. She knows that particular foods are
seen as indicators of particular identities and therefore she uses their presence to make
intentional statements about her identity, as well as the identity of her family. Since she
cannot influence Naoe’s resolute attitude, she tries to ignore her and tries even harder to
77
bring up her child in a manner she considers to be appropriate. Murasaki grows up
eating what all the other white Canadian children eat; her mother has never bought
“hakusai or shōga or shiitake or daikon or satoimo or moyashi or nira ” (91). She used
to buy Jap oranges once a year, but when Murasaki’s skin starts to turn yellow after
eating too many of them, her hysterical reaction—“ ‘Yellow,’ she was muttering, not
even hearing me. ‘Yellow, she’s turningyellow she’s turningyellow she’s—’” (92)—
discloses her fear of being spotted as the Other. Therefore, Keiko restores to purely
Western diet. In Keiko’s case, food choices are determined by the type of identity they
signify. Through eating Western food, Keiko exposes her desire to blend in with the
host society.
However, Keiko comes to experience drawing on both the original and acquired
culture at certain point, and this experience is directly connected to food. Although she
presents herself as a satisfied and confident woman, it is evident that her performance of
a perfectly assimilated immigrant requires great amount of effort and energy to
maintain. She looses her confidence when her mother, the only reminder of her
Japaneseness, leaves the house unexpectedly, which results in a nervous breakdown.
She refuses to talk (127 128). What helps her recover physically as well as psychically
is Japanese food. Naoe is the one who is aware of the power of food:
... You must help her, Murasaki.
Murasaki: I’ve been trying. Not very gracefully.
Naoe: You must try harder. What have you been
feeding her?
78
Murasaki: Well, macaroni and cheese. Hot dogs. Stuff
like that.
Naoe: Mattaku! Of course she won’t be getting better on food such as that! Have a
little sense! (131)
After Murasaki has cooked a Japanese dinner, during which “the ohashi 6 fit in her
[Keiko’s] hands”, Keiko starts to feel better slowly and even laughs (153). She has been
sick for three months during which she has been re connected to her roots, but then she
has suddenly “put on her own slacks and blouse and curled her hair in fat rollers” (190).
Even though she has come back to her Canadian assimilated self and started to cook
“her lasagna and roast chicken, her blocks of beef” (191), she would sometimes ask
Murasaki “to whip up something from ‘my little cook book,’ as she called it” (ibid.).
Naoe’s departure caused disruption in Keiko’s life because she suddenly realized her
total uprootedness and the artificiality of her constructed identity. It is the traditional
Japanese food that helps her understand the necessity of not erasing one’s cultural
heritage. She starts to occasionally participate in the transcultural act of switching from
Western to Japanese diet. Hiromi Goto uses food imagery to prove the pointlessness of
absolute assimilation and suitability of transcultural approach to identities.
The most explicit example of a transcultural perspective is the character of
Muriel/Murasaki who undergoes a transition from a single assimilated identity to hybrid
multiple identities. Initially, the girl is influenced by her hyper assimilated parents and
mainly by her mother Keiko, who tries to make her a ‘white Canadian’. Muriel
“understands through her mother’s rejection of her Japanese culture that being Japanese
is somehow inferior and abnormal” (Sasano). Her childhood diet is, therefore, in no
6 Ohashi are chopsticks (Goto 153)
79
way different from the diet of the other white children: “We poured ourselves coffee and
dumped three lumps of sugar and three spoonfuls of Coffeemate into our Styrofoam
cups. Ate the donuts” (96). Keiko has decided that her child should be raised according
to the “Canadian principles” so she can smoothly become a part of the crowd. She is
convinced that,
It is too confusing for a child to juggle two cultures. Two sets of ideals. If
you want a child to have a normal and accepted lifestyle, you have to live
like everyone else. This is nothing to do with shame of one’s own culture,
but about being sensible and realistic. If you live in Canada, you should
live like a Canadian and that’s how I raised my own daughter. It’s very
simple, really. (189)
As a result, Murasaki behaves like a Canadian and eats baked ham with burnt pineapple
rings cooked by her mother at special occasions (178). Due to Keiko’s attempts to hide
everything Japanese about her family’s lives, the only difference about Murasaki is the
visible one – her physiognomy. That is the one she is most ashamed of.
At home, Murasaki has to come to terms with many different influences—in
addition to the ‘Canadian’ upbringing by her mother Keiko, she is exposed to the
Japaneseness of her grandmother Naoe. She says about this confusing tangle: “It was
difficult growing up in Nanton, daughter of a father who grew mushrooms, daughter of a
mother who became an other, granddaughter of a grandmother who never shut up until
she left the house forever” (36). Grandmother is the person who inspires Murasaki to
explore her heritage and her cultural roots. It is also through food that the Japanese
culture is introduced to her. Murasaki brings secret packages with Japanese delicacies
to Naoe’s room and then they “ate, [they] drank, in Obachan 7’s bed of feast”. Besides
7 Obachan – grandmother in Japanese. Murasaki calls Naoe obachan.
80
tasting Japanese food she learns the rituals, gestures, and symbolism accompanying it:
“Obachan smacked her lips. Mom always ragged on her to cut it out, how rude she
sounded, but it’s really appropriate to smack lips. It’s like a symbolic gesture of respect
to what you’ve consumed— [...]” (17). When Murasaki has her first menstruation, Naoe
prepares a bowl of rice which “was different. It wasn’t white, but a rich purpley reddish
colour and there were bean flecks here and there” (181). The episode hints at the
salience of color in food symbolism. Murasaki’s eating of this meal constitutes not only
an initiation into womanhood, but also into Japanese rituals connected with eating, thus
into its culture. The acquaintance with Japanese foodways through Naoe’s instruction
and the absence of it in her mother’s cooking makes her realize that she is missing
something, that her Self is not complete. She notices that “There was a blind spot in her
[Keiko’s] chosen menu ... . I only noticed what I was missing after I began to question.
When I was in a position to miss something I never knew I had missed” (91). The food
habits, and therefore the general cultural viewpoints, Murasaki is exposed to in her
family are opposing—her mother cooks Western meals while her grandmother offers
her Japanese treats. It is also through food that Murasaki realizes she has to come to
terms with the dual heritage and establish her identity/ies with respect to this condition.
Murasaki’s cross cultural move from the singular assimilated identity to
‘pick’n’mix’ identities comprising her Japaneseness as well as the Canadianness is
initiated through food, too. First of all, Murasaki has to fully embrace her ethnocultural
roots, because, as Stuart Hall claims “our ethnic identities are crucial to our subjective
sense of who we are” (qtd. in Mårald 16). After her mother’s nervous breakdown, she
goes to an Oriental supermarket, buys Japanese groceries, a Japanese cookbook and sets
off to cook a Japanese dinner for her family. The experience in the supermarket is
crucial to her identity quest. She comes there with a Japanese shopping list and finds
81
out that her father, whom she considers to have no link to Japan, regularly buys seaweed
paste there, and that her family name, Tonkatsu, means “breaded deep fried pork cutlet”
(137). Murasaki remarks: “I was overwhelmed. The strange but familiar food. Dad and
his seaweed. Our name “(139). The cooking of the traditional Japanese dinner of
tonkatsu and sharing it with the family brings her satisfaction and joy and it unveils the
aspect of her identity that was not given a chance to express itself. It is interesting that
the people who initially did everything to conceal their Japanese selves are the ones who
now decently help her orientate in this area of cultural traditions:
[Chopsticks] felt awkward in my hands and I couldn’t hold them. Couldn’t bring
food to my mouth. ... Mom looked up from her miso soup and saw. She took her
fork and knife and cut my meat for me then poured Tonkatsu sauce over my pork
and a little over my cabbage. She took the two chopsticks I was turning in my
hands this way and that and held out my hand flat. Set the two thick ends of the
chopsticks on my palm and closed fingers over them in a fist. (152)
Mother, father and daughter all benefit from this cross cultural experience. They all
share in this act of re connecting to their roots and they allow their identities to expand
and include the previously covered up and forsaken. The length of the detailed
description of this occasion in the novel – it fills three pages – only confirms its
importance. Murasaki’s direct involvement in Japanese culture through cooking
traditional Japanese food and her offering of it to the ones who tried to disconnect her
from her ethnocultural heritage on behalf of merging with the host society constitute an
important step on the way towards the formation of transcultural identity/ies.
In the narrator’s present, Muriel/Murasaki is a balanced person who is aware of
her difference and is able to benefit from it and play with it in transcultural acts. She
understands now that she “doesn’t need to measure up to anyone else’s standards”
82
(Sasano), and so she has learned how to slip from one culture to the other, performing a
kind of “cultural amphibianism” (Sasano) similar to Naoe’s. She leads both a life that is
unconsciously Canadian and the one that is very conscious of the distinctiveness of her
ethnocultural origin, and she switches between these identities smoothly in accordance
with the context. She and her lover sometimes order pizza or Chinese food (57), and at
times they cook sekihan (182). Notwithstanding Keiko’s conviction that exposing a
child to beliefs, norms and traditions of both the country of origin and the host society is
confusing for a child, Murasaki does not grow up to be a puzzled woman. She actually
gains from juggling two cultures. By being familiar with the various cultural
expressions she is exposed to much richer environment with more possibilities of
perception and action. Murasaki has rejected the total assimilation represented by her
mother—she refuses to “be rooted down in self conscious conformity”. However, she
opposes “a rigid preservation of the culture of her ancestors” (Sasano) at the same time.
Murasaki has learnt to profit from cross cultural acts, and food was one of the important
formative factors on her identity quest.
In Chorus of Mushrooms readers are presented with various aspects of
immigrant life and feelings stemming from the experience of being caught amidst
cultures. The abundant presence of food references supports the claim that food has a
strong relation to cultural and ethnic identities, and this link, in turn, makes food
imagery an especially fruitful means of communicating complicated identity questions
arising from multicultural situations. The fact that food is common to all cultures, but
foodways are infinitely varied enables Goto to refer to both the universality and
distinctiveness of the Tonkatsu’s immigrant experience. And the transformations food
habits can go through in certain situations provide a good background to pointing out the
83
positives of transcultural acts. Food references in Chorus of Mushrooms can move
readers to consider developments in contemporary discourse on culture and identities.
84
4.4. Transculturalism, Food and Stories
In order to create transcultural identities, one has to not only superficially ‘taste
the Other’, but most importantly, establish communication that is sincerely interested in
the different cultural spheres. In Chorus of Mushrooms , food, which is a communicative
device in its own right, is always interconnected with verbal communication, its
presence or absence. The idea of establishing genuine contact between cultures is
presented by the interconnectedness of eating and storytelling.
The absence of verbal communication hinders passing on the cultural heritage.
Common dinners in the Tonkatsu’s house are characterized by silence or talking without
real interest, which is only interrupted by Naoe’s avalanches of Japanese words.
Murasaki describes the situation at the table:
There were times when we sat at the dinner table, ... . We’d talk then, Mom and I,
and sometimes Dad would offer a word or two. It’s just that the things we talked
about would never have the power to linger. “How was school?” and, “Pass the
gravy boat,” were substitutes for my malnourished culture. (99)
Not only are the material aspects of original culture absent because they are hidden
behind the mask of white Canadian lifestyle, but communication through words and
stories, which is so important for identity/ies formation is not provided by Murasaki’s
parents either. However, Murasaki is not denied access to Japanese stories and Japanese
language completely. Thanks to Naoe she learns the importance of words, storytelling
and verbal communication in general. These ‘lessons’ are closely related to food—it is
while they were eating Japanese treats that Murasaki “snuggled [her] head in Obachan’s
bony lap and closed [her] eyes to listen” (18). Many of the stories Naoe tells feature
food such as gingko nuts in the story about Izanagi and Izanami, the creators of Japan
(30 32). The words food connection is ever present in the novel and it is so intense that
85
Murasaki describes one of their ‘feasts’ like this: “Obachan always chewed like mad,
words falling out with each snap of her jaw. I held my words inside my mouth until
they swelled and softened” (18). This metaphorical representation implies that Naoe is
confident about her ethnocultural identity and she is not to be restricted in its
expressions, but Murasaki, on the contrary, is still cautious and not yet ready to absorb
her heritage in full. Though Murasaki’s parents withhold aspects of Japanese culture
from her, she is presented with them during evenings of eating and stories in her
grandmother’s room. Food and eating are social phenomena which are closely linked to
other forms of communication, and Naoe’s and Murasaki’s experience proves that.
Both the grandmother and the granddaughter gradually gain transcultural
perspective on their lives—they start to draw on multiple cultural expressions, which
means their identities cease to be static. Stories cannot be static either, since they are
created by dynamic and fluid identities. Naoe knows that change is “the nature of all
matter” (73), and so it cannot be expected that “the words ... come out the same each
time my tongue moves to speak” (ibid.). Stories are transformed, which is proved when
Naoe tells a traditional myth that, however, is a different version of the original one.
One of its characters at the end pulls out “half a package of Mild Sevens, a lighter, and a
Meiji chocolate bar” (67) from her sleeve. In order to survive, stories, as well as
identities, have to be adapted to changing contexts. If they remained rigid, they would
not have the capacity to endure. Characters in stories should react to altered situations
of the present, hence eating Meiji chocolate bar in Naoe’s myth telling. In this way
characters can speak for the contemporary experience as well as to the present day
identities.
Storytelling, its evolving nature and its interconnection with food and eating is a
phenomenon existing across cultures. Both Naoe and Murasaki hint at it at different
86
places of the novel. Murasaki, having incorporated her Japaneseness into her life says:
“There was a time when a person could travel with only a coat on her back and journey
from place to place. Trade stories for a place to sleep, a bowl of rice or fish” (77). And
Naoe, having learned to appreciate and express the Canadian in her declares: “I suppose
there was a time when a body could travel with only a light backpack and a sturdy pair
of shoes. Trade a bowl of soup and a slice of bread for a tale or two” (201). This
implies that one should be able to communicate across cultures because besides the
transformations and certain peculiarities there are similarities too. Foodways and stories
are distinct all over the world, but they are always present in all societies, and the
characters in Chorus of Mushrooms show how drawing on multiple traditions is
satisfying and suiting in the era of constant changes.
Both food and stories are inseparable parts of culture and they often exist side by
side in symbiosis. They are common to every culture, but their forms differ and change
across space and time. Getting to know them can provide at least a glimpse into
different cultures, but, as Naoe warns, hurried and shallow tasting is not enough:
There are many people who say eating is only a superficial means of
understanding a different culture. That eating at exotic restaurants and oohing and
aahing over the food is not even worth the bill paid. I say that’s a lie. What can be
more basic than food itself. ... But don’t stop there, my friend, don’t stop there
because food is the point of departure. A place where growth begins. You eat,
you drink and you laugh out loud. ... You tell a story, maybe two, ... .Your
companion listens and listens then offers a different telling. ... You push all the
tables together and the room resounds with voices. (201)
Food as one of the most fundamental manifestations of culture can become a
transcultural device. But its sole ingesting is not enough. It is only a step, though
87
important, towards different forms of communication. However, the potential of food to
establish awareness of diversity, challenge exclusionary attitudes and stimulate cross
cultural exchanges and interaction should not be underestimated.
88
4.5. Other Food Issues in Chorus of Mushrooms
Food references are abundant in Goto’s novel and they do not only illustrate the
issues of in between spaces of cultures and transculturalism, but occur in various other
situations concerning gender, globalization, colonialism or stereotypes. Hiromi Goto is
an author who uses food, which is often taken for granted or considered to be too
mundane to explore, to illustrate contemporary discourses of race, ethnicity, gender, and
other questions of our postmodern era.
Naoe’s memories disclose the relationship between food and gender since it
shows the division of labor in Japanese marriage. However, it also shows how Naoe, as
an obstinate and proud woman resisting any kind of control since her childhood, tries to
undermine these divisions. She remembers how her husband
was an easy one to torment.
“Naoe,” he called. “ Sake .”
I heated the sake until it boiled over and the alcohol
evaporated. Until it turned as sour as vinegar.
“Naoe, this sake is overheated. Be careful next time.”
Next time I barely heated it at all, as tepid as cooling
urine (38).
Goto offers the reader a glimpse into Japanese gender roles, but she also indicates that
they can be defied and subverted.
Dietary globalization caused by the possibility of transport and growing of
perishable foods beyond their geographic origin, which is a sign of modern capitalism,
has likewise found its way into Chorus of Mushrooms . A comment on this up to date
issue is made in the episode when a teacher at Sunday school makes children say: “‘We
thank you Lord, for this wonderful Jap orange. A marvel of agricultural technology.
89
Aren’t the people truly clever’” (59). It illustrates the initial amazement at the
technological progress allowing for the accessibility of food from all over the world,
which has become a reality often taken for granted.
Since Goto expresses a strong anti racist stance in the novel, food is also
mentioned in connection with colonialism and its repercussions. Food as an aspect of
colonialism is at the centre of attention of food studies because, as Lisa Heldke notes,
“eating foreign food has long been a form of cultural and ‘culinary imperialism,’ in
which colonizers confirm their dominance over a culture by appropriating and
subverting its cuisine” (qtd. in Barbas). ‘Culinary imperialism’ is based on the
perception of non Western people as subservient preparers and servers of food. This
particular image is remarked on by Murasaki while considering the issue of stereotypes
connected to ethnic minorities:
You’re invited to be a guest speaker. To give a keynote address. Whatever that is.
Everybody in suits and ties and designer dresses. You’re the only coloured person
there who is not serving food. It’s not about being bitter. You just notice. People
talk race this ethnic that. It’s easy to be theoretical if the words are coming from a
face that has little or no pigmentation. If your name is Hank and you have three
blond kids, no one will come up to you in the Safeway produce section and point
at a vegetable and ask, “What is that”? (89 90)
Murasaki is aware of the fact that white Canadians tend to put restricting labels on the
non white population, which stems from racism, prejudice, indifference or superficiality
of attempts to know different cultures. These labels are frequently affected by the
legacy of colonialist ideals.
Stereotyping and exoticism are attitudes which ethnocultural minorities are
frequently faced with, and Murasaki is not an exception. An
90
“ethnicChinesericenoodleTofupattiesexotic vegetable section of Safeway” (90) in a
supermarket proves that “ethnic” often signifies “exotic” for a Western white consumer
who frequently has only a shallow knowledge about the variety of ethnocultural
communities and reduces this knowledge to very few labels and categories:
“What are they called in your language?”
I looked up at the signs.
“I don’t speak Chinese,” I said.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Sorry for what? ...
Leave me in peace. Let a woman choose her vegetables in peace. (90 91)
“Ethnicity” is often marketed as the exotic, the authentic and the colorful, and such
marketing strategies create a commodity fetish and produce stereotypes. The host
society often forces a homogenized identity onto the diverse ethnocultural communities
because it likes assigning the Other as a distinct reality into categories and expects
individuals to act in a way ‘typical’ for the group they have been allocated to. However,
in order to achieve harmonious coexistence we have to go far beyond the admiration of
the exotic and do away with stereotypes; we have to aim for deeper reciprocal
knowledge.
Food is a social phenomenon whose relevance is manifested in multiple aspects
of our lives. In Chorus of Mushrooms Goto does not confine herself to dealing with only
one dimension of food. She reflects the diversity of dimensions in which food plays its
part, thus implying that everyday, taken for granted activities like eating, mirror a
multitude of problems and discourses of today.
91
Conclusion
Food plays a significant role in the biological, social, political, cultural as well as
the very personal spheres of our everyday lives. It is a mundane object, but of great
social import. Food is an integral part of all cultures around the world, thus having a
universal significance. However, food is associated with a variety of practices and
endowed with diverse meanings across cultures, and therefore it has a potential to
represent cultural specificities and differences. In contemporary multicultural societies
characterized by meeting and mingling of cultures, food can serve as the means of
establishing the awareness of diversity and cross cultural exchanges. All of these
characteristics of food make food imagery an effective medium of addressing issues
concerning cultures, ethnicities and identities in literary works.
In this thesis, I have focused on women writers speaking from various
ethnocultural communities of contemporary Canada, or in other words, contemporary
multicultural women writers of Canada, and their treatment of these issues for three
main reasons. First, the women authors were chosen since food is one of the crucial
factors shaping female identity. Second, the territory of Canada was chosen because of
its specific sociocultural milieu which has been affected by the implementation of
Canadian multicultural policy and by its subsequent criticism followed by searches for
new concepts that would answer the needs of the pluralistic make up of Canadian
society. And third, the choice of writers of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds was
guided by a desire to illustrate, at least partially, the variety of voices that shapes
Canadian literature, and to demonstrate the universality as well as diversity and
specificity of food imagery.
The authors chosen for the literary analyses in this thesis reflect on the current
sociopolitical developments—in their writings they attempt to come to terms with
92
multiple cultural traditions and so the deconstruct any uniform concepts of identity and
speak against exclusionary structures of any kind. According to many of these writers,
transculturalism seems to be the right solution to the cultural compartmentalization
caused by the politically imposed pluralism, since transcultural approach implies cross
cultural communication free from harmful stereotypes, and unrestricted drawing on the
multiple cultural competences. The result of such approach is the emergence of fluid
identities resisting imposed labels. The section on food imagery and contemporary
Canadian women writers of multicultural backgrounds ends in a move towards
transcultural perspectives; the transcultural tendencies are present in Brant’s short story
in form of sharing food across cultural boundaries, whereas Robinson’s novel hints at
transculturalism when she uses food references to indicate switching between identities.
In literature, food can become a transcultural metaphor.
Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms is an outstanding example of the
application of food imagery to indicate transcultural perspective, as well as to address
various other issues emerging in contemporary debates on cultures, ethnicities and
identities. Therefore, it has been chosen for analysis in a separate part of the thesis.
Through food, characters of this novel learn the benefits of embracing more than one
culture, and through interconnecting food with storytelling, or verbal communication in
general, they learn about the necessity of multifaceted and attentive cross cultural
communication. Reflecting the essence of transcultural approach, which implies the act
of crossing boundaries, blurring them and drawing on the multitude, I have attempted to
look at food and food imagery not only across cultures of the Canadian literary
landscape, but also across discourses of sociological, political and literary character, in
order to provide a multifaceted view of the theme, and to establish connections between
the individual spheres. Such approach to my thesis has proved what Hiromi Goto
93
conveys through her use of food imagery: drawing on the diversity can become an
enriching experience.
94
Resumé
Táto diplomová práca sa zaoberá literárnym zobrazovaním jedla a jeho vzťahom
k vyjadrovaniu etnokultúrnych identít. Tento vzťah je skúmaný cez využitie symboliky
jedla v dielach vybraných súčasných multikultúrnych autoriek Kanady. Hlavným
cieľom práce je dokázať, že u týchto autoriek je zobrazovanie jedla a jeho symbolika
skutočne efektívnym spôsobom ako sprostredkovať a vyjadriť sa k aktuálnemu diskurzu
o kultúrach, etnicitách a identitách. Tento diskurz v súčasnosti smeruje
k transkultúrnym prístupom a postojom, čo dokazujú viaceré texty analyzované v tejto
práci, hlavne však román Chorus of Mushrooms autorky Hiromi Goto. Rozbor
zobrazení jedla a jeho symboliky v tomto diele potom ukazuje, že transkulturalizmus je
hodnotným prístupom k situácii stretov protichodných kultúrnych tradícií, a tiež aj to, že
jedlo ako také môže dopomôcť k vytvoreniu vedomia diverzity, môže byť protestom
proti vylučujúcim štruktúram, a že dokáže stimulovať komunikáciu naprieč kultúrami.
Jedlo je dôležitou súčasťou každodenného života a má veľký vplyv na jeho
biologické, sociálne, politické, kultúrne, ale aj celkom osobné sféry. Jedenie je často
chápané ako všedná aktivita, v skutočnosti však má veľký sociálny význam. Jedlo je
nedeliteľnou súčasťou každej kultúry, a má preto univerzálny význam a dosah. Zvyky
s ním spojené, a významy, ktoré sú mu prikladané sa však menia naprieč kultúrami, čo
znamená, že jedlo má potenciál vyjadrovať kultúrne špecifiká a rozdiely. Tieto
charakteristiky jedla činia jeho literárne zobrazovanie efektívnym médiom vyjadrovania
etnokultúrnych identít.
V tejto práci som sa zamerala na jedlo v dielach spisovateliek z viacerých
etnokultúrnych komunít Kanady z troch hlavných dôvodov. Vybrala som ženy preto, že
jedlo je jedným z kľúčových faktorov formujúcich ženskú identitu. Kanada bola
zvolená kvôli jej špecifickému sociokultúrnemu prostrediu, ktoré je ovplyvnené jej
95
multikultúrnou politikou, ako aj kritikou tejto politiky a hľadaním iných konceptov,
ktoré by zodpovedali potrebám kanadskej pluralitnej spoločnosti. A výber autoriek bol
vedený snahou o aspoň čiastočnú ilustráciu rôznorodosti hlasov, ktoré tvoria a formujú
kanadskú literatúru, ako aj snahou ukázať univerzalitu a zároveň diverzitu a špecifickosť
zobrazovania jedla a jeho symboliky.
V prvej časti práce sa venujem sociopolitickej situácii v Kanade, pretože má
zrejmý vplyv na analyzované diela, a jej znalosť ich zasadzuje do širšieho kontextu.
Druhá časť prináša prehľad tém, ktorým sa venujú takzvané „food studies“, čiže výskum
jedla, v tomto prípade hlavne v spojení s jeho sociálnym významom. Oboznámenie sa
s týmito otázkami môže obohatiť analýzu symboliky jedla v kontexte, ktorý táto
diplomová práca používa, čiže v kontexte etnokultúrnych identít. Nasledujúca časť
obsahuje stručné rozbory zobrazení jedla v dielach niekoľkých multikultúrnych
autoriek. Jedlo v týchto textoch sa vždy vzťahuje k etnokultúrnym identitám, táto téma
však nie je jediná a každý text používa jedlo v špecifických súvislostiach, a nastoľuje aj
iné otázky, napríklad genderu, či politiky. Posledná časť sa venuje výhradne románu
Chorus of Mushrooms , ktorý prináša transkultúrny pohľad na problém etnokultúrnych
identít. Skrze jedlo, postavy v tomto diele ťažia z viac než len jednej kultúry,
a prepájaním jedenia s rozprávaním sa, sa učia nutnosti pozornej a rozmanitej
komunikácii naprieč kultúrami.
V tejto diplomovej práci som sa pokúsila reflektovať transkultúrny prístup tým, že
som sa na jedlo a symboliku jedla pozrela nielen naprieč kultúrami Kanady, ale aj
naprieč diskurzami sociologického, politického a literárneho charakteru. Tento prístup
potvrdil to, čo Hiromi Goto naznačuje vo svojom románe aj skrze zobrazenie jedla:
čerpanie z diverzity môže byť obohacujúcou skúsenosťou.
96
Works Cited
“About Canada. Multiculturalism in Canada.” Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount
Allison University Home page. 23 Feb. 2007. 4 March 2007
able>. Alford, Edna, and Claire Harris, eds. Kitchen Talk. Contemporary Women’s Prose and Poetry. Red Deer College Press, 1992. Barbas, Samantha. “‘I’ll Take Chop Suey’: Restaurants as Agents of Culinary and Cultural Change.” The Journal of Popular Culture 36 (4), 669–686. Blackwell Synergy. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.blackwell synergy.com/>. Bauböck, Rainer, and John Rundell. Preface. Blurred Boundaries: Migration, Ethnicity, Citizenship. Ed. Bauböck, Rainer, and John Rundell. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1998. Bennett, John W., Harvey L. Smith, and Herbert Passin. “Food and Culture in Southern Illinois A Preliminary Report.” American Sociological Review , Vol. 7, No. 5. (Oct., 1942), 645 660. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. Bentley, Amy. “American Gastro Anomie.” Rev. of Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America by Harvey Levenstein. Reviews in American History , Vol. 22, No. 3. (Sep., 1994), 523 529. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. “Biography. Sharon H. Nelson.” Nelson, Sharon H. Home page. 15 March 1999. 21 March 2007. < http://www3.sympatico.ca/sharon.nelson/bio.htm>. 97 Blodgett, Harriet. “Mimesis and Metaphor: Food Imagery in International Twentieth Century Women’s Writing”. Papers on Language and Literature . Summer 2004. FindArticles.com . 15 Apr. 2006 Bolaffi, Guido, Raffaele Bracalenti, Peter Braham, and Sandro Gindro, eds. Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Cultur. London: SAGE Publications, 2003. Bonato, Lisa. “Voce Unica: Mary Di Michele.” Canadian Writers. Centre for Language & Literature at Athabasca University Home page. 2004. 4 Dec. 2006 < http://www.athabascau.ca/writers/MaryDiMichele_essaybonato.html>. Brand, Dionne. In Another Place, Not Here. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 1996. Brant, Beth. “Food & Spirits”. Food & Spirits. Stories. Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1991, 67 85. Burnet, Jean R., and Howard Palmer. “Coming Canadians.” An Introduction to a History of Canada’s Peoples. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1988. Bush, Catherine. “Anywhere But Here.” The New York Times on the Web . 4 Jan 1998. 15 Jan 2007. < http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/04/reviews/980104.04busht.html> Camp, Charles. “Foodways in Everyday Life.” American Quarterly , Vol. 34, No. 3. (1982), 278 289. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. Chee Beng, Tan. Rev. of Asian Food: The Global and the Local by Cwiertka, Katarzyna, and Boudewijn Walraven. The Journal of Asian Studies , Vol. 61, No. 4. (Nov., 2002),1320 1322. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. 98 Chivers, Sally. “Goto, Hiromi. (1966 ).” The Literary Encyclopedia and Literary Dictionary . Ed. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott and Janet Todd. 17 December 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. 10 Dec. 2006 Clarke, George Elliott. Introduction. Une Raison D’Être. Eyeing the North Star. Directions in African Canadian Literature. Ed. Clarke, George Elliott. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1997, xi xxviii. Cook, Ian, and Michelle Harrison. “Cross over food: Re materializing Postcolonial Geographies.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 28 (3), 296– 317. Blackwell Synergy. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.blackwell synergy.com/>. Cuccioletta, Donald. “Multiculturalism or Transculturalism. Towards a Cosmopolitan Citizenship.” London Journal of Canadian Studies Vol.17 (2001/2002). 15 Jan. 2005 Damm, Kateri. “Says Who.” Looking at the Words of Our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature. Ed. Armstrong, Jeannette. Penticton: Theytus Books, 1993. 10 23. Di Michele, Mary. “Life is Theatre”. The Anthology of Italian Canadian Writing . Ed. Pivato, John. Toronto: Guernica, 1998, 296 298. Dvořáková Janů, V. Lidé a Jídlo. Praha: ISV Nakladatelství, 1999. Esses, Victoria M, and R.C. Gardner. “Multiculturalism in Canada: Context and Current Status.” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Studies. Jun 1996. FindArticles.com. 15 Dec. 2007 Freed, Ruth S. Rev. of Food, Society and Culture: Aspects in South Asian Foods Systems by R.S. Khare and M.S.A. Rao, eds. The Journal of Asian Studies , Vol. 99 46, No. 1. (Feb., 1987), 183 185. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 11 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. Frewer,L. , Risvic,E., Schifferstein,H. Eds. Food, People and Society. A European Perspective of Consumers’ Food Choices. Berlin: Springer, 2001. Ghosh, Sutama, Wang, Lu. “Transnationalism and Identity: a Tale of Two Faces and Multiple Lives” The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien 47 (3), 269– 282. Blackwell Synergy. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.blackwell synergy.com/> Goto, Hiromi. “Canadian Culture 201.” Eye Wuz Here. Stories by Women Writers Under 30. Ed. Cooley, Shannon. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1996, 77 86. Goto, Hiromi. Chorus of Mushrooms . Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1994. Goto, Hiromi. Interview for BookSense.com. BookSense.com . Vlahos, Len. 2003. 4 Oct. 2006 Grosse, Jocelyn. “Japanese folk tales and Canadian landscapes influence the writing of Hiromi Goto.” FFWD. Calgary’s News & Entertainment Weekly . Ed. Maureen McNamee. 2003. 12 Dec. 2006 Gunew, Sneja Marina. Introduction. Beyond the Echo :Multicultural Women's Writing. Ed. Gunew, Sneja Marina and Jan Mahyuddin. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1988, xiii xxi. Gunnars, Kristjana. The Prowler. Alberta: Red Deer College Press, 1989. Hall, Stuart. “New Ethnicities.” ‘Race’, Culture and Difference. Ed. James Donald, and Ali Rattansi. London: SAGE Publications, 1997, 252 259. 100 Hutcheon, Linda. “A Crypto Ethnic Confession.” Canadian Writers. Centre for Language & Literature at Athabasca University Home page. 31 Oct. 2002. 4 Dec. 2006 Hutcheon Linda, and Marion Richmond, eds. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990, 1 16. Hutcheon, Linda. “‘The Canadian Mosaic: A Melting Pot on Ice’: The Ironies of Ethnicity and Race.” Splitting Images. Contemporary Canadian Ironies. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1991, 47 68. “Identity.” Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Cultur. London: SAGE Publications, 2003. Isajiw, Wsevolod W. “Definitions and Dimensions of Ethnicity.” Multicultural Canada. 3 March 2007 thnicity.html>. Itwaru, Arnold Harrichand. The Invention of Canada: Literary Text and the Immigrant Imagery . Toronto: TSAR, 1990, 9 30. Johnston, Ingrid. “Literature and Social Studies: Reading the Hyphenated Spaces of Canadian Identity.” Canada’s National Social Studies Journal Vol. 35, No.1 (Fall 2000). 13 Dec. 2006 #Literature%20and%20Social%20Studies:>. Julier, Alice P. Rev. of No Foreign Food: The American Diet in Time and Place by Richard Pillsbury. Contemporary Sociology , Vol. 28, No. 1. (Jan., 1999), 70 71. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 101 < http://www.jstor.org/>. Koc, Mustafa, and Jennifer Welsh. “Food, Foodways and Immigrant Experience. Paper written for the Multiculturalism Program, Department of Canadian Heritage at the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Conference.” Metropolis Canada Project. 23 Feb. 2007. 3 March 2007 < http://canada.metropolis.net/events/ethnocultural/publications/aliments_e.pdf.> Kostash, Myrna. The Next Canada. In Search of Our Future Nation. Toronto: M&S, 2000. Leeds Hurwitz, Wendy. “Food as Sign and Code.” Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaun Associates, 1993. Leersen, Joep. “Identity/Alterity.” Images. 30 Jan. 2006. Huizinga Instituut, U. of Amsterdam. 20 Apr. 2007 < http://cf.hum.uva.nl/images/dtory/identity.pdf>. Loriggio, Francesco. “The Question of the Corpus: Ethnicity and Canadian Literature.” Future Indicative. Literary Theory and Canadian Literature. Ed. Moss, John. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1987, 53 68. Lu, Shun, and Gary Alan Fine. “The Presentation of Ethnic Authenticity: Chinese Food as a Social Accomplishment.” The Sociological Quarterly 36 (3), 535–553. Blackwell Synergy. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 12 Jan. 2007 < http://www.blackwell synergy.com/> Mårald, Elisabeth. In Transit: Aspects of Transculturalism in Janice Kulyk Keefer’s Travels . Diss. Umea: Umea University, 1996. Masuoka, Jitsuichi. “Changing Food Habits in Hawai.” American Sociological Review , Vol. 10, No. 6. (Dec., 1945), 759 765. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 102 < http://www.jstor.org/>. McCallum, Jane. “Understanding Culture Through Recipes.” Journal of Educational Sociology , Vol. 24, No. 4. (Dec., 1950), 235 237. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. McGifford, Diane. Introduction. The Geography of Voice. Canadian Literature of the South Asian Diaspora . Ed. McGifford, Diane. Toronto: TSAR, 1992. vii xviii Messer, Ellen. “Anthropological Perspectives on Diet.” Annual Review of Anthropology , Vol. 13. (1984), 205 249. JSTOR. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 10 Jan. 2007 < http://www.jstor.org/>. Methot, Suzanne. “Spirits in the Material World. Haisla Culture Takes Strange Shape in Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach. ” Quill and Quire. Jan. 2000. 4 Feb. 2007 < http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=1656>. Milz, Sabine. “Comparative Cultural Studies and Ethnic Minority Writing Today: The Hybridities of Marlene Nourbese Philip and Emine Sevgi Özdamar.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture: A WWWeb Journal. June 2000. 15 Feb. 2007 < http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb00 2/milz00.html>. “Multiculturalism.” Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Cultur. London: SAGE Publications, 2003. Nelson, Sharon H. “Making Cabbage Rolls, Making Culture.” Nelson, Sharon H. Home page. 15 March 1999. 21 March 2007. < http://www3.sympatico.ca/sharon.nelson/cabbage.htm>. Nelson, Sharon H. “The Woman’s Testimony.” Kitchen Talk. Contemporary Women’s Prose and Poetry. Ed. Alford, Edna, and Harris, Claire. Alberta: Red Deer College Press, 1992, 233 236. 103 Parameswaran, Uma. “Tara’s Mother in law.” The Geography of Voice. Canadian Literature of the South Asian Diaspora . Ed. McGifford, Diane. Toronto: TSAR, 1992, 67 68. Padolsky, Enoch. “Ethnicity and Race: Canadian Minority Writing at a Crossroads.” Journal of Canadian Studies. Fall 1996. FindArticles.com . 15 Apr. 2006 < http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3683/is_199610/ai_n8742785>. Philip, Marlene Nourbesse. “Burn Sugar.” Kitchen Talk. Contemporary Women’s Prose and Poetry. Ed. Alford, Edna, and Harris, Claire. Alberta: Red Deer College Press, 1992, 33 39. Pivato, J., and B. Powell. “Hiromi Goto. Short Biography.” Canadian Writers. Centre for Language & Literature at Athabasca University Home page. 31 Oct. 2002. 12 Dec. 2006 “Population by selected ethnic origins, by province and territory (2001 Census) (Canada).” Statictics Canada. 25 Jan. 2005. 12 Jan. 2007 < http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo26a.htm>. Portes, Alejandro, Rumbaut, Rubén G. Immigrant America: A Portrait. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Robinson, Eden. Monkey Beach. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 2001. Sasano, Mari. “"Words Like Buckshot": Taking Aim at Notions of Nation in Hiromi Goto's A Chorus of Mushrooms .” Centre for Language & Literature at Athabasca University Home page. 12 Dec. 2002. 12 Dec. 2006 Scholliers. Peter. “Meals, Food Narratives, and Sentiments of Belonging in Past and Present.” Food,Drink and Identity. Cooking, Eating and Drinking in Europe Since the Middle Ages. Ed. Scholliers, Peter. Oxford: Berg, 2001, 3 23. 104 Tschofen, Monique. “Biography of Kristjana Gunnars.” Canadian Writers. Centre for Language & Literature at Athabasca University Home page. 19 Jan. 2005. 12 Dec. 2006 < http://www.athabascau.ca/writers/KristijanaGunnars_bio.html>. Zeff, Jacqueline. “‘What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Fat’: The Language of Food in Latina Literature”. The Journal of American Culture , Volume 25, Issue 1 2, 94 99. Blackwell Synergy. Masaryk U Lib., Brno, Czech Republic. 15 May 2006 < http://www.blackwell synergy.com/>. 105