Cooking a Home: Culinary Practices and Identity of Latin American Immigrants in Geneva, Switzerland

There are currently 281 million international migrants in the world who experience dietary alterations as a result of being placed in a new environment, away from their home: some foodstuffs become unavailable, others are discovered and integrated into migrants’ culinary practices. Since food is culturally relevant, and culture is a component of one’s identity, altering culinary practices means altering identity. In Switzerland, this impacts 88.000 immigrants from the American continents. However, little research focuses on taste as a sensory experience connected to home and identity, and even less on Latin Americans in Europe or Switzerland. Therefore, this thesis observes how Latin American immigrants in Geneva, the second biggest Swiss city, use culinary practices to reproduce their regional/ethnic identity and build a new home. It argues that, despite some discontinuation and unavoidable adaptation, they maintain many pre-migration practices and create new ones through...Show moreThere are currently 281 million international migrants in the world who experience dietary alterations as a result of being placed in a new environment, away from their home: some foodstuffs become unavailable, others are discovered and integrated into migrants’ culinary practices. Since food is culturally relevant, and culture is a component of one’s identity, altering culinary practices means altering identity. In Switzerland, this impacts 88.000 immigrants from the American continents. However, little research focuses on taste as a sensory experience connected to home and identity, and even less on Latin Americans in Europe or Switzerland. Therefore, this thesis observes how Latin American immigrants in Geneva, the second biggest Swiss city, use culinary practices to reproduce their regional/ethnic identity and build a new home. It argues that, despite some discontinuation and unavoidable adaptation, they maintain many pre-migration practices and create new ones through transnationalism and community-building. As such, Latin Americans in Geneva reproduce some aspects of their identity and produce others: they maintain a Latin American ethnic and familial identity, and create a Genevan and transnational one. Their sense of self becomes from here and from there and manifests itself through the upkeep and construction of various homes across borders, using cooking as a homing tool.Show less

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Cooking a Home: Culinary Practices and Identity of Latin American Immigrants in Geneva, Switzerland