Sheldon, Rebecca

Material culture is important as both product and agent in cultural inheritance and transmission. Cuisine (food and the material culture that surrounds it) is argued to be a significant part of most people’s material culture and contributes to cultural inheritance in several ways. Cuisine provides a point of reference and association which helps people create cultural identity; it is a very visible marker of distinct cultural communities. Food used for special occasions can provide a particularly poignant, immediate and intimate ‘aide memoir’ of past events. This characteristic, combined with the possibility of replicating meals enables cuisine to be a valuable transmitter of cultural information across time and place. In addition, cuisine’s material culture is part of the cultural niche (environment) that communities construct for themselves and, as such, changes to cuisine may alter the very cultural selection pressure operating upon people’s cultural behaviour. This thesis specifically sought to examine the impact of migration upon cultural transmission. Migration necessarily presents a threat to cultural continuity. Comparison of UK-born and immigrant resident groups, therefore, has potential to highlight the durability of different aspects of cultural transmission. Evidence was reviewed from the literature, Chapters 2 – 6, and from fieldwork data from a survey of just over 100 London residents, presented in Chapters 8 and 9. The main focus of the fieldwork examined how cuisine knowledge was acquired (sources and modes of learning) and how this was affected by migration. Evidence was found for the dominance of ‘social learning’ and ‘vertical sources’ for immigrants and those born in the UK. Although immigrant groups remained reliant on these sources, there was evidence of some change. Other differences between the two groups were observed such as perception of outside cuisine influence and willingness to embrace new cuisine ideas.<br/

Royal Holloway - Pure

 1     Rebecca Kate Sheldon  Thesis title:  An examination of the role of cuisine in cultural transmission with particular reference to the effects of migration upon the transmission of cultural information.     Submitted in accordance with the requirements of an MPhil degree   Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London   October 2014  2   Declaration of Authorship     I  (Rebecca Kate Sheldon) hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated.   Signed: ______________________   Date: 30th October 2014  3       Acknowledgements and Thanks     I  would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Clive Gamble, University of Southampton, and Professor Katie Willis, Royal Holloway, University of London, for their continued support and help over the years of writing this thesis.  I would also like to thank my mother, Sarah, for her advice and faith that I could finish the thesis. Most particularly, my daughter, Isabel, must be thanked for her patience in putting up with so many hours of my writing and for being such a lovely and sweet support.   4 Abstract  Material culture is important as both product and agent in cultural inheritance and transmission.  Cuisine (food and the material culture that surrounds it) is argued to be a significant part of most peopleಬs material culture and contributes to cultural inheritance in several ways.  Cuisine provides a point of reference and association which helps people create cultural identity; it is a very visible marker of distinct cultural communities.  Food used for special occasions can provide a particularly poignant, immediate and intimate ಫaide memoirಬ of past events.  This characteristic, combined with the possibility of replicating meals enables cuisine to be a valuable transmitter of cultural information across time and place.  In addition, cuisineಬs material culture is part of the cultural niche (environment) that communities construct for themselves and, as such, changes to cuisine may alter the very cultural selection pressure operating upon peopleಬs cultural behaviour.   This thesis specifically sought to examine the impact of migration upon cultural transmission.  Migration necessarily presents a threat to cultural continuity.  Comparison of UK-born and immigrant  resident groups, therefore, has potential to highlight the durability of different aspects of cultural transmission.  Evidence was reviewed from the literature, Chapters 2 – 6,  and from fieldwork data from a survey of just over 100 London residents, presented in Chapters 8 and 9. The main focus of the fieldwork examined how cuisine knowledge was acquired (sources and modes of learning) and how this was affected by migration. Evidence was found for the dominance of ಫsocial learningಬ and ಫvertical sourcesಬ for immigrants and those born in the UK.  Although immigrant groups remained reliant on these sources, there was evidence of some change. Other differences between the two groups were observed such as perception of outside cuisine influence and willingness to embrace new cuisine ideas.  5   Contents Chapter Title Contents Page 1 Introduction 1.1 The cultural inheritance system 9 1.2 The use of evolutionary perspectives 11 1.3 Modes of Learning 13 1.4 Routes of transmission 16 1.5 The evidence sample 16 1.6 The population sample 19 1.7 The fieldwork investigation 22 2 The cultural inheritance system 2.1 Introduction 26 2.2 Theories of cultural transmission 28 2.3 Applying cultural inheritance theory to material culture 31 2.4 Niche construction theory 35 2.5 Testing niche construction theory 37 3 Cultural identity 3.1 Introduction 41 3.2 Why individuals want to belong to a group 42 3.3 The creation of different cultural groups 45 3.4 Sense of place 48 3.5 The effect of migration on group identity 50 3.6 Maintaining cultural identity 51 4 How cultural knowledge is passed on 4.1 Introduction 56 4.2 How cultural knowledge is acquired 57 4.3 Transmission of cultural knowledge 59 4.4 How new knowledge about environments is processed 63 4.5 How migration affects cultural transmission 65 5 Material culture and cultural inheritance 5.1 Introduction 77 5.2 What is material culture? 78 5.3 Material culture as transmitter of cultural identity 83 5.4 Material culture of home 86 5.5 Material culture and cultural memory 87 6 Cuisine and cultural inheritance 6.1 Introduction 93 6.2 How cuisine differs from other material culture 94 6.3 The role of cuisine in cultural identity 96 6.4 Cuisine and cultural transmission 100 6.5 The effect of migration upon transmission of cuisine 105 6.6 Deconstructing cuisine and dining 106 7 Methods 7.1 Introduction 116 7.2 Research questions 116 7.3 Selection of the survey location 118 7.4 Research methods 122 7.5 Profile of the study area 128     6              8 Presentation and analysis 8.1 Introduction 137 8.2 How important is cuisine to cultural identity? 138 8.3 Are some components of cuisine more important to identity? 142 8.4 Do different components of cuisine change at different rates? 152 8.5 What are the main transmission routes of cuisine knowledge? 163 8.6 What are the main modes of learning about cuisine? 184 8.7 Summary of results 197 9 Conclusion 9.1 Introduction 206 9.2 How important is cuisine to cultural identity? 207 9.3 Are some components of cuisine more important to identity? 209 9.4 Do different components of cuisine change at different rates? 210 9.5 What are the main transmission routes of cuisine knowledge? 213 9.6 What are the main modes of learning about cuisine? 219 9.7 Is there evidence that immigrants’ cuisine environments have changed and exert new selection pressures? 223 9.8 Evaluation and further research 225                Bibliography      228   Appendices 1 Fieldwork questionnaire  236   2i Respondent data Part One: Cuisine & Identity.         pages 1 - 6   2ii Respondent data Part Two: Food knowledge Passed on.                                                                 pages 1 - 6   2iii Respondent data Part Three: How food changes.     pages 1 - 6   2iv Respondent data Part Four:  Influences of food choices                                                                       pages 1 – 6   2v Respondent data Part Five: About you                      pages 1 - 14       6   List of Figures      Figure Figure title  Page  7.1 Map of London boroughs 119 7.2 Map of Harringay ward 119 7.3 Movement of residents in and out of the Borough 122 7.4 Ethnicity of survey respondents 129 7.5 Place of birth of survey respondents 130 7.6 Ancestry  of survey respondents 131 7.7 Ages of survey respondents 133 7.8 Gender ratio of survey respondents 133 7.9 Education levels of survey respondents 134 7.10 Household composition of survey respondents 135 8.1 Importance of food to cultural identity 139 8.2 Ranking of importance of aspects of culture 141 8.3 Components of dishes least wanted to change 143 8.4 Importance of each dish component 145 8.5 Perceived importance of dish components 148 8.6 Willingness to try different meal elements 151 8.7 Likelihood of eating traditional food at special events 155 8.8 Likelihood of eating traditional food at typical meals 157 8.9 Influence of London cuisines on special event meals 159 8.10 Influence of London cuisines on everyday meals 161 8.10b Influence of the media and friends 164 8.11 Receptiveness to new food culture 166 8.12 Main sources of food knowledge 168 8.13 Compares years lived in UK and vertical transmission 171 8.14 Compares age and vertical transmission 174 8.15 Place of birth of parents 176 8.18 Frequency with which food knowledge is passed on 179 8.21 Age of respondents’ written recipes  182 8.22 Willingness to try new food dishes outside the home 186 8.23 Willingness to try new food dishes at home 188 8.24 Compares preferred learning modes 191 8.25 Preferred learning modes and time lived in UK 194 8.26 Preferred learning modes and respondent age 195  8    List of Tables        Table Table  title  Page 1.1 Main research themes and questions 24 7.1 Research themes and questions 117 8.1 Comparison of traditional cuisine knowledge 147 8.2 The likelihood of eating traditional cuisine – comparison of UK born and non-UK born groups 163 8.3 The likelihood of eating traditional cuisine – comparison of immigrant groups 165 8.5 Choosing vertical sources – comparison of UK born and non-UK born groups 177 8.6 Choosing vertical sources – comparison of immigrant groups 178 8.7 Compares horizontal transmission and place of birth of respondents’ parents 181 8.8 Learning mode preferences 188 

An examination of the role of cuisine in cultural transmission with particular reference to the effects of migration upon the transmission of cultural information

An examination of the role of cuisine in cultural transmission with particular reference to the effects of migration upon the transmission of cultural information

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