Culinary Cartographies: Mapping Cultural Identity through Foodways in Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home

This paper delves into the confluence of cultural identity and foodways in the diaspora, using Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, as its object of study. It investigates the role of food, as a vibrant site of cultural expression and exchange for the Palestinian-Egyptian protagonist and her family, who strive for charting their transnational identity across different locations and cultures. Against the background of Anita Mannur’s insights on “Culinary Fictions”, this study examines the significance of food preferences and eating habits as a tool for affirming cultural identity, negotiating belonging, and resisting hegemonic narratives of cultural authenticity and assimilation. By analyzing the significance and symbolism of food in the diaspora, this research foregrounds the complexities of cultural identity. It does so through exploring culinary practices as part of the “defence and coping mechanisms” adopted by diasporic communities to maintain a connection to their homelands while attempting to render their experience of belonging tangible and fully lived. In this sense, food acts as more than a nourishment for the body as it equally functions as a vital source of sustenance for the diasporic consciousness, contributing significantly to the preservation of cultural identity and the maintenance of connections to ancestral homelands.