Buying, growing, and making home/ethnic foods in Taiwanese immigrant women’s daily lives
The first challenge that Taiwanese immigrant women may face with regard to making home/ethnic foods, far from their home country and in a foreign land, is obtaining ingredients. Nearly all research participants shared common experiences of going to different Chinese and Asian supermarkets in Brussels, Antwerp, or other Belgian cities in order to buy food ingredients they need. The research participant P7 shared her shopping and food ingredient-finding experiences and also pointed out the difficulty of obtaining adequate food ingredients she needs; this is because the Taiwanese immigrant community in Belgium is small, which reduces the market demand and also supermarket owners’ motivation to import foods and ingredients from Taiwan. She said:
I often bought some food and ingredients from Chinese and Asian supermarkets. There are several supermarkets I usually visit, for example, Jīn Yuan (金源超市) supermarket in Brussels. If I want to eat some Asian food or want to make some Taiwanese dishes, then I will go there. However, compared to the US where I lived for several years, the number of Taiwanese immigrants in Belgium is quite small. As a result, there are few Taiwanese foods in the Chinese and Asian supermarkets in Belgium. Thus, sometimes it is difficult to find all the foods and ingredients I need for making Taiwanese home/ethnic foods.
Since the Taiwanese immigrant women could not easily find all of the ingredients they wanted at Chinese and Asian supermarkets in Belgium, interestingly, some of the research participants built up their home garden to become a “vegetable farm,” where they grow and cultivate some Taiwanese vegetables, spices, and other ingredients that are difficult to obtain from local and Chinese supermarkets. Research participant P1 shared her experiences of growing several different Taiwanese vegetables in her home garden and also discussed what it means to her to grow these “Taiwanese” foods and vegetables in her “Belgian” home garden. She said:
In my home garden, there is a special area I called ‘Taiwan corner’, since I have grown several different vegetables and spices that I brought seeds for from Taiwan, including water spinach (空心菜), sweet potato leaves (地瓜葉), Chinese cabbage (大白菜), and Chinese yam (山藥). You know, since I brought all the seeds of these vegetables from Taiwan to Belgium…, so, every time when I see these vegetables, it brings back my good and childhood memories from my hometown in Taiwan and with my Taiwanese family…, you know, this corner, for me, is like a connection between both of my lives, between Belgium and Taiwan…, very interesting, sometimes, I make video calls using my mobile phone to my elderly parents in Taiwan and share with them about my harvests at the garden, while also sharing with them regarding my life here…, you know, it’s like a spaces through which I can make linkages and connections with my Taiwanese family and my home in Taiwan. Moreover, eating these vegetables would further relieve my homesick, and further make me feel comfort.
It is interesting to see that growing different “Taiwanese” vegetables in her home garden has multiple meanings for P1. According to her interview, these vegetables further become “comfort foods” and “nostalgic objects” for her, while eating them has some positive impacts on her psychological condition and wellbeing by reducing her sense of nostalgia, alleviating the pressures of daily life, and letting her feel comfort. In this regard, the meanings of these vegetables for her go far beyond their dietary meanings, as they further become synonymous with “home” and “happiness” for her [42]. It is also important to note that the “Taiwan corner” in P1’s home garden does play a vital role of building transnational connection. By utilizing her mobile phone to video-call her elderly parents in Taiwan, P1 further links her Taiwan life with the Belgian one. Assisting by the use of technology like the mobile phone, which not only makes P1 easily able to learn about her parents’ living situations, but also helps her manage the relations with her Taiwanese family through distinct digital and online food-sharing behaviors. In short, these vegetables become a link between P1 and her family in Taiwan; moreover, her online food-sharing behaviors further make her “Taiwan corner” and home garden become an important transnational social space, further allowing her to construct a sense of “online togetherness” between her and family in Taiwan [43,44,45,46,47] (Fig. 1).
Participant P14 also shared her experiences and meanings of making home/ethnic “Taiwanese” foods with her children and husband. P14 further explains why she insists on making “Taiwanese”- or “Chinese”-style foods and dishes for her children and husband, as she believes that the local and Belgian foods are tasteless and unhealthy (Fig. 2). She said:
I usually go to buy the food ingredients from the supermarkets with my children after school. I think my children already have Belgian cuisine for breakfast and lunch, and they have a lot of salad, bread, sandwiches… and for me, I think the traditional Belgian foods are tasteless and unhealthy…, so, I insist on cooking Taiwanese or Chinese styles of foods and dishes for my children for dinner, since I believe that our ‘Taiwanese’ or ‘Chinese’ foods taste better and are healthier than the Belgian ones…, moreover, in the food preparing and making procedures, I also like to invite my children to do it with me, and during the process, I will share stories about these Taiwanese or Chinese foods and cuisine cultures with them…, and you know, making these foods with my children and husband is quite meaningful for me, which further makes me obtain the “home feelings”.
It is true that, according to statistics published in 2015, Belgians have the world’s third unhealthiest eating habits, since their foods use too much oil and mayonnaise; moreover, Belgians also eat too many chips in their daily diet [48]. The above statistic shows that P14’s worries are reasonable; in this regard, her behavior of insisting on making “Taiwanese”- and “Chinese”-style food for her children in dinner is like a form of compensation. Moreover, by making these home and ethnic foods with her children and husband, she further transfers her food consumption preferences and ethnic food and cultural knowledge horizontally to her children, as well as vertically to her husband. P14’s experiences of making food with her children and husband have an additional function of cultural transmission through transferring an immigrant mother’s food and dietary habits and ethnic cultural knowledge to the next generation, since immigrant mother plays an important role of “food gatekeeper” to their children by ensuring the foods the children eat are good and healthy [49, 50].
Sharing home/ethnic foods with friends and neighbors: an important strategy for expanding and managing friendships in the host society
In addition to the dimensions of buying, growing, and making home/ethnic foods, sharing Taiwanese home/ethnic foods with others is another common experience in Taiwanese immigrant women’s daily lives. Moreover, this food practice is further regarded as a useful strategy for expanding and cultivating their friendships and social networks in the host society. During the first author’s online fieldwork, he saw a social event invitation posted on Facebook by research participant P4 on October 17, 2018. In the post, P4 stated that “I would like to invite my friends to a gathering at my home…, and everyone should take and contribute one dish for sharing…, and I will also organize the activity of Mahjong…, and I will pick you up at the train station”. In fact, the first author participated in this event; after the event, the first author invited P4 to participate in the study and the further interview. During the interview, the first author was curious about the reasons why she held this gathering and what it meant to her. In response, P4 explained:
I really enjoy organizing these activities. Although I don’t have a full-time job, I spend the majority of my time on domestic work and family affairs…, however, you know, being a housewife is quite trying…, you don’t have much private time for yourself…, sometimes, I really need a break, and I also like to meet old and new friends…, so that is why I posted this information on Facebook to invite my friends to come to my home and gather together for chatting, eating, drinking, and also playing.
Moreover, it is interesting to point out that, based on the first author’s participant observation, the majority of the participants in this gathering event were “Taiwanese,” with few “mainland Chinese” immigrants and local Belgians in attendance (the latter were mainly Taiwanese and mainland Chinese women’s husbands). Since the attendees were mainly other Taiwanese immigrants, the first author asked P4 about what it meant to her to gather and have fun with these Taiwanese friends. She said:
You know…, actually, I do organize these kind of gathering activities every three to four months…, I think it’s quite important to me…, you know, by holding these food-sharing activities, which could help me to escape from my daily and routine life, you know, during the activities, I not only can meet with my old friends, but sometimes, they would bring and introduce new friends to participate in the activities…, so the activities for me have a double effect, at first, I could maintain my friendships with my old friends, but also the activities further enable me to meet new friends…, moreover, since most of the participants here were also Taiwanese immigrants…, so, we did not have any barriers to talk about Taiwan and related issues, and in doing so, it really does make me feel happy and relaxed.
Regularly organizing food-sharing activities became a useful friendship-making and social network cultivation strategy for P4, since she not only invites her old friends but also welcomes the participants to introduce new friends to participate in the event. Moreover, her food sharing activities organized at her private house/home also make her home akin to a semi-public space, providing the participants with opportunities to encounter others and make new friends [51] (Fig. 3).
In fact, many other Taiwanese immigrant women share similar experiences to P4: they also hold or participate in food-sharing and eating activities with other Taiwanese immigrant women. Another participant P10 shared her experiences of participating in the food-eating and social gathering activities regularly organized by the virtual community members of “Belgium Taiwanese Wife Chat forum.” She further indicated the importance of these food-sharing and social gathering events to her as a Taiwanese immigrant wife and mother living in a foreign land. She said:
…you know, in daily life, I spend the majority of my time taking care of my little children and doing the majority of the domestic work, so I do not have much time for myself…, you may think that [being a] housewife is free and not really busy… that’s totally wrong, a housewife actually is pretty busy…, you know, because of that I do not have many friends here [i.e. in Belgium), I just have about five friends in Belgium and they are also Taiwanese immigrant women…, moreover, eating together or sharing food together is the most important entertainment for us…, you know, we have an activity called the “time for Taiwanese mothers”, in the event, we will go out or sometimes go to someone’s house and eat together…, interestingly, we do have a consensus that “husbands” and “men” cannot participate in the event, we do only welcome immigrant women and housewives…you know, it is super important for me to regularly gather with these Taiwanese immigrant women and housewives, because during the event, we share our different or similar immigrants’ life experiences with each other…in doing so, it really makes me feel “I am not alone…, there are still others that have similar experiences to me”,… and the activities also enhance my personal identification with being an immigrant mother and housewife.
From the discussions above, it can be clearly seen that activities involving gathering and eating together are meaningful for these Taiwanese immigrant women and that the food transcends its original materiality and dietary functions. These Taiwanese immigrant women and housewives share the home foods they made with their friends or neighbors, and also regularly participate in activities involving eating and sharing food to which only immigrant wives and mothers are invited; in this regard, food sharing and eating activities take on critical meanings and have various social effects in their immigrant life experiences. For many of the research participants in this study, such as P4 and P10, food-sharing and food-eating activities and behaviors become the important friendship-making and social network cultivation strategies in their immigrant social life. Moreover, the activities of “time for Taiwanese mothers” play further and vital role of constructing the collective social identity of being immigrant wives and mothers in a foreign land, since these events not only effectively reduce immigrant mothers’ sense of loneliness, but also assist participants in obtaining useful information and similar experiences shared by others, moreover, making the participants understand that they are not alone and that there are in fact many others who share similar social status and lived experiences with them [52, 53] (Fig. 4).
What make foods taste “Taiwanese-style” in the migration context
It is also very interesting to note that these Taiwanese immigrant women have diverse viewpoints regarding what representative home foods are and what makes foods taste “Taiwanese-style.” For example, P12 shared her perceptions regarding the “representative of home/Taiwanese foods” for her in the migration context. Interesting, the “three cup chicken” (三杯雞) is not only her favorite dish, but also the representative home/Taiwanese food for her (Fig. 5). She said:
…you know, when I was still in Taiwan, my favorite dish was “three cup chicken” (三杯雞)… you know, it smells and tastes so… good, and if you want to cook the ‘Taiwanese’ style of three cup chicken, you have to put some specific ingredients in…, moreover, as a Taiwanese person, I cook three-cup chicken by frying sesame oil, sugar, Kim Lan soy sauce (金蘭醬油), chili, Asian basil, and chicken legs all together…and very importantly, the soy sauce can only be Kim Lan brand, since this is the only Taiwanese soy sauce I can buy at the Chinese/Asian supermarket in Belgium…, you know, I have to say that the tastes between Kim Lan soy sauce and the soy sauce made in mainland China (老油抽) are really different…, the soy sauces made by mainland China do really taste salty (死鹹), and do not have the soy sauce’s original flavor, you know… for me, [the soy sauce made in mainland China] tastes artificial…, so, for me, I insist on using the Kim Lan soy sauce for making three cup chicken has Taiwanese taste.
However, P12 further indicated that she cannot buy all the ingredients she needs; thus, it is quite difficult to make and replicate 100% “Taiwanese taste” dishes in her immigrant daily life (Fig. 6). She said:
…you know, it is really difficult to replicate one hundred percent ‘Taiwanese Taste’ in Belgium…you know, at first, it is not easy to find and buy all of the ingredients you need at the Chinese or Asian supermarkets here, since they do have limited foods imported from Taiwan, and moreover, since my husband is a Belgian man, and my children eat Belgian foods in the morning and also in lunch…so, you know, my husband and children, in fact, cannot accept really traditional ‘Taiwanese’ or ‘Chinese’ foods…, so, for me, if I want them to accept ‘Taiwanese’ or ‘Chinese’ foods, then I have to make some changes, or make it taste like a more Belgian flavor…, so I think because of these two limitations, it is so difficult to say what is real ‘authentic Taiwanese’ food here. So, I call the foods I make ‘Taiwanese-Belgian mixed’ dishes.
Another very interesting point is that the research participant P17 insists on using the Ta Tung steam cooker (大同電鍋) to cook rice and make dishes, since from her perspective, this cooker is the only one that can make and replicate foods that taste like the “Taiwanese” style. She said:
… I still remember that, when I decided to emigrate to Belgium many years ago, my Taiwanese mom reminded me to take a Ta Tung steam cooker with me. She said, “A Ta Tung steam cooker can make your foods very easy…”, you know, the Ta Tung steam cooker seems like Taiwan’s national product. In Taiwan, I can say that more than 90% of Taiwanese homes do have of this brand of steam cooker…, and you know, it is quite strange that if I use another brand of steam cooker to cook rice or make foods, you know, it tastes less tasty, I don’t know why…, but if I use the Ta Tung steam cooker to cook rice or make dishes, the flavors will be good…, I guess maybe it is because we [i.e. Taiwanese people) are used to utilizing this brand of steam cooker to cook rice and make foods.
The above narratives shared by the different research participants clearly show that these immigrant women employ different methods to make the foods and dishes they cook taste “Taiwanese-style.” For P12, she insists on using a specific brand of soy sauce to cook her favorite dish, “three cup chicken” (三杯雞); moreover, for P17, she also insists on using the Ta Tung steam cooker to cook rice or make dishes. Both participants also argued that without adding and using certain specific food ingredients, spices, sauces, or equipment, they cannot make foods that have the “Taiwanese-style” of taste.
It is therefore interesting to point out that these immigrant women use their own and distinct ways to make and define what “Taiwanese” food means for them in the migrant context [54]. Another important point is that, as P12 said, it is also difficult to make and replicate 100% “Taiwanese-style” foods in her immigrant life; this is because she not only faces difficulty in obtaining adequate Taiwanese food ingredients, but also is required to balance different expectations and preferences regarding taste between herself and her Belgian husband and children. Because of these limitations, it is difficult for her to make a clear and solid definition and interpretation regarding what 100% authentic “Taiwanese” food is. Thus, for P12, the “Taiwanese-style” foods and dishes she makes in her daily life, in fact, blend Eastern (Taiwanese) and Western (Belgian) tastes. Her narratives regarding the meaning of foods’ authenticity and her daily home/ethnic authentic food-making practices clearly demonstrate the fact that the meanings and definitions regarding foods’ “authenticity” are not static but rather dynamic and may also change because of people’s different living circumstances or distinct taste preferences [55, 56]. Furthermore, P12’s narrative also reveals that her daily food-making and experiences of negotiating different taste preferences within the mixed family have led her to question the notions of “authenticity” and “essentialism” which connected to home/ethnic foods and cultures. This has further caused her to look beyond the idea of cultural essentialism and consequently enabled her to become more open and flexible in navigating and accepting different food tastes and preferences [57].
Personal memories, ethnonational identity, and cultural markers and the notion of home foods
It is further worth noting that, in the first author’s fieldwork and interview experiences, he further found that Taiwanese immigrant women and housewives attach various personal feelings and subjective meanings to the notions of home/ethnic foods in the migrant context. For them, three of the most frequently mentioned attachments in this context are childhood memories, personal ethnonational identity, and certain cultural markers. With regard to personal childhood memories, P5 shared her childhood experiences and discussed the personal meaning of cooking a special dish, “chicken legs and pig ears” (雞腳與豬耳朵), in her immigrant food practices (Fig. 7). She said:
…although I came from Taiwan, and I would identify myself as ‘Taiwanese’, however, I also belong to the ‘Amis’ (阿美族) aboriginal ethnic group, so I have the two identities, one is Taiwanese, and the other one is ‘Amis’, so, if you ask me, “what are the representative Taiwanese foods?” … Then I will tell you that the dish of ‘chicken legs and pig ears’ is my favorite ‘Taiwanese’ food… you know, when I was a child, my family and I lived in the mountain area in Hualien, and I still remember that at the time, my family and parents were still very poor, my parents did not have enough money to buy chicken or pork meat for us, they could only afford to buy the chicken legs and pig ears, the parts that not everyone likes to eat, for feeding us…, now I am living in Belgium, sometimes, when I miss the taste of Taiwanese foods or my Taiwanese family, I will cook this dish and also share it with my Belgian husband and children, interestingly, they also like it quite a lot…, so I will say the representative Taiwanese food and dish for me is the ‘chicken legs and pig ears’…, ha, I think it is influenced by my childhood and growth-up experiences.
In addition to the childhood memories, some of the Taiwanese immigrant women connect their ethnonational identity with the notions of home/ethnic foods for them. For example, P3 used a dish called “beef noodles” as an example to explain what Taiwanese food meant to her, as well as her perceptions regarding home foods and her ethnonational identity. She said:
…For me, there is no clear definition of what Taiwanese food is, because I grew up in a ‘military dependents’ village’ (juàn cūn,眷村) in Taipei, where all the residents came from Mainland China. And our parents were all mainlander migrants, since all of them immigrated to Taiwan accompanied by the Kuomintang (KMT) government, since the KMT and its troops lost the civil war they fought with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949…, thus, at the village, the cuisine came from different parts of mainland China, so for me… Taiwanese food and cuisine are quite mixed… like my mixed sense of identity that I identify myself as both ‘Chinese and Taiwanese…, and you know, I think the dish of ‘beef noodles’ is just like me…, this dish actually originates in mainland China, and just like my parents and family, this dish also emigrated from mainland China to Taiwan, taken by the mainlander immigrants at the time…so, in this regard, I will say there is no pure ‘Taiwanese’ food…, however, the representative Taiwanese food for me is ‘beef noodle’, and actually it is a mixture of combining mainland Chinese and Taiwanese tastes together, which is similar to the way I identify myself.
Accordingly, it is interesting to point out that Taiwanese immigrant women apply various of different aspects to depict the meanings and notion of home/ethnic foods for them. For example, P5 connected her childhood and adolescent memories with the notion of home food. Indeed, P5’s narrative and definition regarding the concept of home food for her clearly reflect the truths that food and memory always play vital roles in peoples’ ethnic identity construction and belonging formation. Her narrative also reveals that people can create diverse definitions and interpretations regarding the notions of home/ethnic foods, since everyone has their own and distinct personal lived experiences and memories [58]. Moreover, the narrative shared by P3 further demonstrates how the ways immigrant women define and interpret the meaning and concept of home food are also related to their ethnonational identity and how they identify themselves. For P3, who is affected by her mixed ethnonational identity, the meanings and notions of home foods for her are also quite mixed, since she has a hyphenated identity and identifies herself as “both Chinese and Taiwanese.” Accordingly, the representative home food for her is also a food that originated initially from mainland China, subsequently “immigrated” and became famous in Taiwan—the “beef noodles” (牛肉麵) [59]. It is also worthy to note that P5 and P3 have different ethnic backgrounds: P5 has an “Amis” aboriginal ethnic background, while P3’s parents immigrated from mainland China to Taiwan when P3 still was a young child, meaning that she has a mainlander (外省人) ethnic background. These different ethnic backgrounds not only influence how they identify themselves, but further cause them to have quite different perceptions regarding the notion of “Taiwanese” foods, as well as distinct viewpoints and preferences with regard to what representative home/ethnic foods are to them. Their narratives further reveal the fact that, since Taiwanese society is constituted by several different ethnic groups, people with different ethnic backgrounds may have quite distinct definitions, viewpoints, and ideas related to the notions of “home/ethnic” foods, or even about Taiwan’s national cuisine [60]. Moreover, their narratives further echo the perspective that the notions of “home/ethnic” foods and the concept of “authentic” tastes are both outcomes of social constructions rather than unchangeable or statistical phenomena. This means that people with different personal backgrounds, or who have different living circumstances, have very subjective perceptions and interpretations regarding these issues. Thus, no one can ever fully answer the question as to what authentic and representative “Taiwanese” foods actually are, since these questions will be answered very differently from person to person [55, 57].
Furthermore, although the participants in this study are all women originally from Taiwan, they reveal individual and subjective narratives regarding their distinct ethnonational identity affiliations; moreover, when the authors asked about what makes food “Taiwanese,” or about the meaning of making and consuming Taiwanese home/ethnic foods in the context of migrant life, they provided different explanations and divergent interpretations. For the majority of the research participants in the study, their ethnonational identity was majorly related to their self-affiliations with regard to the notions of ethnicity and cultural belonging. For them, the meanings of home or ethnic foods were not only connected to where they came from but were also tied to cultural markers in their daily food practices and lived experiences, especially in mixed-culture families. P15 indicated that she could not eat Belgian food every day and further emphasized that consuming Taiwanese food was important to her; this is not only related to what she likes to eat, but is also a representation of where she came from and who she considers herself is:
…it is quite embarrassing to say that even though I already left Taiwan and lived in Belgium for about a decade, I cannot accept eating Belgian food all day…, you know, Belgians like to eat salad, bread, potato, and fries, and they can eat these foods every day and in every meal …but I can’t, for example, at dinner especially, I definitely want to eat some hot and salty foods, I cannot accept eating salad or bread for my dinner, it’s okay for me to eat some cold salad or bread for my breakfast or sometimes for my lunch, but I do not like to eat such foods and dishes for my dinner…, maybe it is because I’m Taiwanese, you know, in Taiwan, we like to eat hot foods rather than cold foods, and we like to eat salty rather than sweet foods…, so you know, almost every day, I prepare two different types of food: Belgian foods, for my Belgian husband and children, and Taiwanese or Chinese foods, and that’s for me…, I think it’s like a marker that reminds me that I’m still different from Belgians, and I do have pretty different food preferences from them.
P15’s narrative shows that, in her mixed-culture home, foods do not only provide people with the necessary nutrition; what people like to eat, and an individual’s food preferences, could further become important and obvious cultural and ethnic markers that remind people of their different ethnic backgrounds and cuisine cultures. P15’s narrative echoes the anthropologist’s perspectives that “we are what we eat.” In P15’s case, the different food preferences between she and her Belgian husband continue to be vital cultural and ethnic markers reminding her that she still is not 100% “Belgian”; on the contrary, her food preferences and diet habitus are an obvious reflection of her Taiwanese ethnicity [61].