We’re stronger in our diversity than in our siloes and cocoons

The last several decades have seen a highly emotive debate the world over on immigration. In the last few years, the United States and the European Union have been the focal point of those debates. Lost in this charged debate has been the role of food as an immigrant. That’s right – food as a non-native. I am defining food here as cuisine as well the plant and animal ingredients from which dishes, foods, and drinks are made. In both immigrant-friendly as well as immigrant-hostile countries, immigrant foods have done exceedingly well. Anti-immigrant natives seem to have no qualms savoring immigrant foods while rejecting the immigrant to whom the food is native. Let’s interrogate why.

Let’s stipulate that most cultures are food dynamic. This means that most societies don’t have non-negotiable pallets. It’s exotic in a globalised world to try cuisines and foods from the remotest reaches of the planet. You will hear all-knowing professionals in major cities tout the health and medicinal benefits of a root from some remote country. Most of the time it’s just a bunch of hooey. Rare is the villager today who hasn’t heard of a hotdog or a hamburger. I can’t forget the time I heard Kenyan kids talk about Kentucky Fried Chicken – they even called it KFC – as though it was their grand mamma’s ugali or mukimo. Of course some of these foods come with the Empire like Hollywood movies.