The Spice of Life: A Study on Food, Memory, and Identity Among Indian Migrants in the Netherlands

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between food, memory, and (trans)national identity for Indian migrants in the Netherlands. By employing theories from the anthropology of food and material culture, we analyze the influence of food and foodways on Indian migrants’ experience of implicit remembering and how this affects their perception of national identity. We argue that studies of material culture ought to more explicitly incorporate factors of temporality and memory, especially in relation to food. Though food is a temporary object by nature, our findings indicate that meals from the past are still highly influential in Indian migrants’ conceptualizations of identity today, even in a context of perceived postnationalism.