Diasporic Tastescapes

Diasporic Tastescapes seeks to explore the culinary metaphors present in a selection of Asian American narratives written by a variety of contemporary authors. The intricate web of culinary motifs featured in these texts offers a fertile ground for the study of the real and imaginary [hi]stories of the Asian American community, an ethnic minority that has been persistently racialized through its eating habits. Thus, this book examines those literary contexts in which the presence of food images becomes especially meaningful as an indicator of the nostalgia of the immigrant, the sense of community of the diasporic family, the clash between generations, or the shocks of arrival and return. The reading of Asian American “edible metaphors” from these perspectives will prove particularly revealing in relation to the notions of “home”, “identity”, and “belonging”; all of them mainstays of the diasporic consciousness.

Paula Torreiro Pazo works at Appalachian State University, in North Carolina, USA. She is also a member of the research group CLEU (Cultures and Literatures of the United States) at the University of A Coruña, Spain.