Re-constructing Food Identities in Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko

Abstract

Migration is often a result of forced escape from political or social uprisings, subordination faced on different levels or a free will to explore a nomadic lifestyle. The consequences faced range from cultural shock and alienation to acclimatizing to a foreign world. The basic elements that seek drastic changes are the food practices and traditions. Food is an integral part of a culture which can vary from culture to culture in terms of the style of cooking to the types of food consumed. This leads to a formation of the Self and the Other which the migrants find strenuous to grapple with. The paper Re-constructing Food Identities in Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko intends to navigate the lives of select characters in the chosen novel, that have paved their way in life through hybridized societies and hegemonic identities, along food cultures. It will study the clashes, confrontations and negotiations that finally lead to acculturation. It will also explore hybridization of indigenous culinary practices which create dissimilar yet known traditions that become difficult to comprehend and follow. Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko depicts a re-construction of food identities in different generations of wars and colonial occupations.