Food politics and identity construction in Richard C. Morais’s the Hundered- Foot Journey

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Date
2020
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Oum-El-Bouaghi
Abstract
This study seeks to explore the importance of food in the construction of the diasporic identity. Richard C. Morais's novel The Hundred-Foot Journey (2010) presents a rich example of the interconnectedness between food, memory, and identity construction. The novel depicts Hassan's culinary journey from Mumbai to London, Lumiere and finally to Paris and his own metamorphosis and transformation from a mere local Indian cook into a famous and hybrid chef, fusing the culinary arts of both the Indian and French cuisines. Based on a set of food studies and food's relation to identity construction, this study suggests that food is the bridge through which Hassan succeeds to cross the widening gap between the two different cultures. Besides making use of food studies, this study makes specific references to Homi Bhabha's views of hybridity, liminality, and the third space and Stuart Hall's conceptualization of identity as a process and positioning. Applying theses theorists' perspectives about identity, the analysis shows the ways the protagonist's novel, Hassan, achieves reconciliation between the two conflicting parts of his identity to realize his own sense of cultural identity. Moreover, this study scrutinizes the power of memory and especially food memory in strengthening Hassan's attachment not only to his homeland but also to cooking. To put it differently, past memories can serve as a site of reconstruction and transformation. Morais' novel then stresses hybridity and celebrates third space wherein the fixity of cultures and identities is challenged, revisited, and negotiated. By fusing these two spaces and cultures, Hassan has been able to inhabit a third space where he can find his hybrid identity that is a mixture of the two spaces without being caught in a state of in-betweeness. The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Morais is not only about the distance between the French and the Indian restaurants, but the distance between two cultures and two identities where food is the bridge that interlinks them.
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Keywords
Identity, Food, Hybvididty
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