Eating Solo: Food Practices of Older Hong Kong Chinese Migrants in England

By documenting some of the food practices of a particular cohort of older Chinese migrants to Britain, this article attempts to show how a study of food can provide insight into the complex experience of migration because food is central to the memory, comfort, and all the processes needed to adapt to a host country. In this case, it also has an impact on the migrants' social relations within and beyond the family long after they had stopped working. This cohort is unique in their being the first amongst their peers who chose to retire in Britain and in their living in sheltered housing instead of with their married children, which was the pattern they expected. As most of these respondents were involved in the food service industry, this article will also explore how this memory of “eating bitter” (hardship) in the Chinese restaurant business continued to mark their personal prestige and social status. In analyzing their avoidance of commensality—thus eating solo—within their flats, I use the concepts of gossip and the “gift as poison” to demonstrate the important role that a luncheon club played in providing not just food but a safe, neutral, and social space for these respondents. The willingness for the one exception to let others into her flat for meals is viewed as an example of conspicuous consumption, which, in turn, confirms how the respondents’ previous status within the Chinese restaurant “food chain” remained an indicator of their social status.