More Than Just Getting By: Italian Food Businesses in Brussels at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

This article surveys the food businesses operated by Italian migrants and the commercial strategies these ethnic entrepreneurs developed in Brussels between the late 1870s and 1914. Based on journalistic, commercial, and police archives, it analyses identity constructions and acculturation through food by providing an historical study of the practical aspects of migrating to a new city. An international perspective then relates the findings to Italian food businesses in London and New York City and highlights the specificities of the Brussels case. I argue that besides offering pragmatic economic opportunities to migrants, food businesses were about more than just getting by economically and that commercial food practices present ideal expressions of social, cultural, and economic adaptation.