Food as a Language of Cultural Expression and Revitalization in Arab-American Women’s Writing

Year 2013, Issue: 37, 39 - 52, 01.04.2013

Ikram A. Elsherif

Abstract

In “Still Hot: Great Food Moments in Children’s Literature,” the Korean-American writer Linda Sue Park writes: “When people immigrate to a new country, there are four things about their original culture that they lose, one by one. First to go is the mode of dress […] Next is language […] Third on the list is religion […] Finally, there is food. The second and third generations may consume a more eclectic menu but still remain fiercely loyal to the food of their ancestral homeland” 231 . This fierce loyalty to ancestral homeland foods suggests that food is closely linked to identity.

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