Traditional food knowledge: a case study of an immigrant Canadian "foodscape".

Abstract

Traditional food knowledge (TFK) refers to the cultural tradition of sharing food provisioning skills, techniques and cultural beliefs from generation to generation. Traditional food knowledge can be a means of asserting cultural identity, particularly for minority cultural groups; transmitting this knowledge may contribute to personal skills that relate to food security and personal nutrition and enhanced community capacity. Furthermore, this knowledge can connect cultural diasporas and fortify cultural identity for post-migration generations. As an intergenerational activity, TFK transmission also plays a role in socialization. Traditional food knowledge can fade within households and communities as regional food systems and cultures change with pressures from global industrialization, urbanization and cultural homogenization. The distinct expressions of taste and place face a continuity gap when traditional food knowledge is not passed forward and, instead, is reframed as the domain of industrial production. The losses in cultural heritage, as a result, have only recently reached academic and policy attention. Defining traditional food knowledge (TFK) is a first step in asserting space for its recovery and renewal. TFK practitioners will need to be recognized for their skills and community space--in terms of time and facilities--may be required to encourage such social and informal cultural education to be shared. The qualitative case study described in this paper combined knowledge from the literature with the lived experience of immigrant first-generation Indonesian-Chinese Canadians and their families. The literature contextualized the social practice of traditional food knowledge transmission and provided the theoretical background. The concept of TFK was grounded in the experiences of a specific group of settled immigrants through a focus group and interviews. The study results include a definition of TFK, description of its significance to a sample of first-generation Canadians and recommendations for supporting TFK transmission.

Les connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles englobent la tradition culturelle de partage, de generation en generation, des habiletes, des techniques et des croyances culturelles liees a I'approvisionnement en aliments. Les connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles peuvent etre un moyen d'affirmer son identite culturelle, particulierement dans les groupes culturels minoritaires. La transmission de ces connaissances peut contribuer aux habiletes personnelles qui sont en lien avec la securite alimentaire et I'alimentation personnelle ainsi qu'a une augmentation de la capacite des collectivites. De plus, ces connaissances peuvent mettre en lien les diasporas culturelles et renforcer I'identite culturelle dans les generations postmigratoires. Etant une activite intergenerationnelle, la transmission des connaissances alimentaires et culinaires joue egalement un role de socialisation. Les connaissances traditionnelles peuvent s'estomper dans les foyers et les collectivites a mesure que les systemes alimentaires regionaux se modifient pour repondre aux pressions de I'industrialisation, de I'urbanisation et de I'homogeneisation culturelle mondiales. Les expressions distinctes du gout et du lieu se perdent lorsque les connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles ne sont pas transmises, mais qu'elles sont plutot redefinies comme etant du domaine de la production industrielle. L'appauvrissement du patrimoine culturel qui en resulte ne souleve que depuis tres recemment I'attention des universitaires et des responsables des politiques. Definir ce que sont les connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles est la premiere etape permettant de revendiquer l'espace necessaire a leur retablissement et a leur renouvellement. Les detenteurs de ces connaissances traditionnelles devront etre reconnus pour leurs talents et leur place dans la collectivite, et il pourrait etre necessaire de prevoir des installations pour encourager le partage d'un tel savoir informel culturel et social. L'approche d'etude de cas qualitative a porte sur la conjugaison des connaissances presentees dans la documentation et I'experience des premieres generations d'immigrants chinois d'lndonesie devenus Canadiens et de leurs families. La documentation a mis en contexte la pratique sociale de la transmission des connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles et a fourni le cadre theorique. Le concept de connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles est integre aux experiences d'un groupe particulier d'immigrants etablis par le biais de groupes de discussions et d'entrevues. Les resultats de I'etude presentent une definition de ce que sont les connaissances alimentaires traditionnelles, la signification qu'elles ont pour un echantillon de Canadiens immigrants de premiere generation, ainsi que des recommandations sur la maniere de ]soutenir la transmission de ces connaissances.

Key words

Traditional food knowledge, foodscapes, Indonesian-Canadian immigrant, food preparation

Introduction

Traditional food knowledge represents the collected wisdom of many generations of people who have learned how to produce, prepare and pass on their skills in food provisioning. The work of these people (usually women) is often unrecognized and undocumented, and the opportunity for this informal sharing and education to increase personal skills for health and community capacity can be lost. The purpose of the study described in this paper was to understand what traditional food knowledge is and its role and significance for a healthy community among a group of settled first-generation immigrants to Canada. In this paper, traditional food knowledge is explored as a social practice that contributes to aspects of healthy communities that relate to cultural elements of community food security, individual and community capacity building, and the promotion of biocultural diversity.

This article begins by summarizing a literature review which spans various disciplines including human ecology, agriculture, population health, family studies, community development, education and social, cultural, and nutritional anthropology. This review contributed to the definition of "traditional food knowledge", a concept that was then used in the case study, which included a focus group with elders and interviews with people of younger generations. They were conducted to explore the TFK concept in the life experiences of various generations of immigrants with Indonesian-Chinese ethnocultural background. Key informant interviews with professionals and citizens who are involved with food education were also conducted and contributed to recommendations for supporting TFK transmission and continuity.

Traditional Food Knowledge: Making the invisible visible

Traditional food knowledge (TFK) is a concept coined here to acknowledge the importance of the relationship between traditional food cultures and healthy communities (Johns and Sthapit 2004, UNESCO 2005). Although TFK relates to all stages of food provisioning, particular attention will be made to the cultural education stage, where TFK is transmitted to new generations. This transmission will not continue if both the process of de-skilling in a modern commodified food system and societal fragmentation facilitate consumption of convenience food commodities over localized production and provisioning (Jaffe and Gertler 2006). TFK is sidelined in the majority of formal education settings, although it is a socialization opportunity and can be a vital piece of cultural education (Ferrero 2002, Johns and Sthapit 2004, Searles 2002). TFK can make key contributions to healthy communities on issues relating to community food security, individual and community capacity, and biocultural diversity (Johns and Sthapit 2004, Kuhnlein and Receveur 1996).

The maintenance of TFK is especially important to immigrant cultures, which comprise a large portion of the Canadian population, by providing a self-identifiable cultural bridge between the geography of their past and their present (Ferrero 2002, Koc and Welsh 2002).

Scope of traditional food knowledge in food provisioning

One way of making sense of this complex, multiscalar topic is to consider food in terms of phases of production and consumption (Goody 1982: 37). Every step requires specific skills and knowledge to be successful in terms of the provision of basic foods. While all these phases are important, another could be made more explicit--the social transmission of these skills. This cultural education phase may not be immediately critical to providing food, but I argue that--over time--it is critical for cultural survival and capacity building that these skills and sets of knowledge be transmitted to new generations of food providers.

What is Traditional Food Knowledge?

"Traditional" may be interpreted as describing a process that does not change; however, it can also describe a dynamism in the way knowledge is shared and learned (Four Directions Council 1996). Kuhnlein and Receveur's definition of indigenous food systems implies a social process of sharing culture: "Traditional food systems of indigenous peoples can be defined to items that are from the local, natural environment that are culturally acceptable. It also includes the sociocultural meanings, acquisition/processing techniques, use, composition, and nutritional consequences for the people using the food" (Kuhnlein and Receveur 1996: 417). The authors acknowledge that any threats to the continuity of traditional food systems will "... lead to declining transfer of traditional knowledge to young people on how to recognize, harvest, process and prepare their food" (Kuhnlein and Receveur 1996: 434). How this definition may apply to a non-indigenous, minority ethnocultural group may be pertinent to the promotion of TFK for many migrants and people of mixed ethnic identities in Canada. Identities and place stretch beyond localized boundaries, in Massey's (1994, 2004) theories on cultural identities and geography, as transnational social relations extend from a range of different places. The connection to TFK can be illustrated by the transplanted seeds from migrants whose descendents yield crops far from their place of origin. Friedmann points out that a biocultural diaspora has existed for centuries. Transplanted tomatoes from the Aztecs to Italy are no less deserving of cultural recognition in Italy than in the Americas (Friedmann 2005). Watson (2007: 133) suggests that Kuhnlein and Receveur's "traditional food systems" are better conceptualized as "foodways" to recognize that food traditions are able to evolve and thrive beyond a specific locale.

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