Reading about immigrant foodways

I read two fascinating books this month about how the diets of immigrant groups have shaped, and been shaped by, the foodways of the places they have moved to. Panikos Panayi’s Fish & Chips: A Takeaway History (Reaktion, 2022) investigates the origins of the popular British takeaway dish, noting that fried fish originated in Jewish immigrant groups and that fried potatoes are possibly French in origin (although also seem to have independently developed in different places). Hasia R. Diner’s Hungering for America: Italian, Irish & Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration (Harvard, 2001) explains how the foodways of these three immigrant groups developed in distinct ways in their new American context. I found her exploration of Italian food particularly striking, as it suggests that ‘Italian food’ as we know it is essentially American in origin. Both books provide great insight into the malleability and dynamism of food practices, demonstrating the recent and complex origins of emblematic national dishes.