Conceptualizing Russian Food in Emigration: Foodways in Culture Maintenance and Adaptation

Abstract

Abstract Food preparation and consumption is an essential part of culture. Leaving their homeland and finding themselves in a society with eating habits different from theirs, migrants face a dilemma of adapting their diets to those customary in their new place of residence or trying to maintain their food habits. Relying on the ethnographic method and applying thematic and critical discourse analyses, this article explores how Russian-speaking migrants discuss changes in their foodways and what role Russian food stores play in the life of immigrant communities. Material for analyses was drawn from fieldwork conducted in Finland, Germany, Israel, and Switzerland. It includes in-depth interviews, immigrants’ essays, and group discussions. We also studied culinary discussion groups on Facebook and documented linguistic landscape related to food consumption in the diaspora. Among the salient themes in the discourse dealing with eating habits abroad are food nostalgia, trying out familiar recipes with new products, evaluating traditional dishes of the host society, and re-evaluating Russian cuisine, searching for the right food in the new country and trying to showcase the best of one’s own cooking to other people. Immigrants’ discourse about food and the labels on the food products available in “Russian” stores outside Russia reveal frequent use of paroemias and quotations and allusions to Soviet and post-Soviet popular culture. Russian-speaking immigrants’ reflections about their old and new foodways reveal that they are an integral part of search for a new hybrid self-identity.