Alyshea D'Souza

Consuming Connections

Consuming Connections is a project meant to document stories about first and second generation immigrants’ experiences with cultural dishes, exploring how this relates to identity. Children of immigrants often struggle to relate to their parents’ cultural background because they lack the environmental elements that constitute their culture, such as nationality, language, or clothing, however, food is the common element that most have access to. While the exploration of culture through food has been widely studied within the fields of anthropology, sociology and cultural studies, I saw an opportunity for food studies to be engaged/addressed through communication studies. The overall intention of the project is to encourage people to reflect on their own feelings and experiences with cultural identity, in relation to cultural dishes. Through this project I hope to offer an opportunity for people to connect with their cultural identity.

“Consuming Connections explores people’s relationships with cultural dishes, and how they can offer an opportunity to connect with one’s cultural identity.”