Abstract

Food is one of the key markers and identifiers of a person’s culture, identity and history. We communicate through food. The adage “You are what you eat” rings true for most, if not all of us. But what happens when one’s relationship with food changes and one is faced with new forms of food? In this encounter does one’s identity changes or does the food change? To what extent do the experiences and memories related to food shape one’s experience and decisions? Our research is aimed at finding out how Indian students in the diaspora perceive food in a foreign place. We are interested in the meanings they attach to the food they eat, the restaurants they visit and the people they eat with, and the type of food they prepare at their new place of residence here in Cambridge. Using these experiences, meanings and perceptions as our guide, we hope to understand how food can become an identity, a sense of belonging, a form of attachment/detachment and a means of cultural communication.