Making memories: Chinese foodscapes, medicinal foods, and generational eating

Abstract

The availability and abundance of foods in 21st century China have dramatically expanded over the past three decades. Despite the proximity of memories of food insecurity—the intergenerational preparation and sharing of meals continue to mark social identity and belonging. This article explores how contemporary Chinese foodways and medicinal recipes connect with past times as well as convey cultural memory. Two case studies will animate this analysis. The first part of the article will examine the Cuisine Museum in Hangzhou where past coexists with present and future as attendees view displays of specific dishes and grand tables followed by consuming sumptuous meals recreated at the adjoining restaurant. The second half will explore the realms of medicinal foods and recipes that reflect longstanding notions of health that are being promoted in contemporary China. Altogether, these arenas suggest that foodscapes, particularly medicinal foods, offer key assemblages of food memory, time, and wellbeing.

Therapeutic improvisation in Cambodia: Moderated exposure, the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes, and the quest to weave the “world’s longest krama”

“…Memory studies scholars such as Freeman, Nienass, and Daniell have expressed skepticism toward the “neat oppositions drawn between mind and materiality in matters of memory.” They call on authors to consider “physical practices, sensual experiences, built environments, objects of affective investment, and the human bodies that shape, store, and facilitate our memories” (Freeman et al, 2015: 4). Food and the act of eating may be particularly compelling mediums for memory transmission (Chen, 2020; Holtzman, 2006; Sutton, 2001). Events may be remembered in a variety of sensorial ways, through watching, touching, hearing, and developing an emotional response to them (Popov, 2017).…”

Memory worlds: Reframing time and the past – An introduction

“…Anthropologist Nancy Chen’s (2020) contribution ‘Making Memories: Chinese Foodscapes, Medicinal Foods, and Generational Eating’ analyses the growing musealisation and the knowledge of traditional and medicinal food that is conveyed from generation to generation. Chen explores the specific contexts in which contemporary Chinese foodways and medicinal recipes connect with past times as well as convey utopian ideals.…”