The fascinating work of Siliga David Setoga, ‘Playing Happy Fatties’, raises an interesting point. In this strange world, Samoans and Chinese are loving fried chicken from Kentucky and New Zealanders are falling for sushi and noodle canteen from Asia.
In the case of New Zealand, Hargreaves mentioned that lower economic class often consume ‘fast food’ and ‘junk food’ which lacks nutrients needed for human body. [1] However, the lower economic class of Chinese often cannot afford these overpriced ‘foreign delicacy’ such as fried chicken, fries, pizza and hamburgers. [2]This causes a very different view on body shape as being big-sized is indicating that you come from a fairly good economic background.[3]
Reflecting on the last blog I wrote, this is the world we are living in right now where labels such as ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’ seem too limited to explain the complex identity of food in our daily lives. Just socio-economic background alone influences so much about what food we eat, and it also varies greatly between different countries. Like how Madeline and Simon experienced the same food so differently[4] , wider context and personal experience determine people’s judgment on ‘good food’ and ‘bad food’. Something as cheap and convenient as fried chicken may be an expensive delicacy in another country, an authentic dish such as honey chicken may find its popularity from the other side of the globe like people would have never imagined.
[1] Henry, Hargreaves, Kai and Culture: Food stories from Aotearoa, Freerange Press，（2017）
[2] Chen, Chen, the Influence of Western Food on Chinese Diet[J]. ‘Success’(education),2011(14):278.
[3] Yang, Wang. How Western food Changes traditional Chinese Diet [J]. hospitality,2018(10):192-193.
[4] The critic and the rookie go to The Grove, one of Auckland’s fanciest restaurants’. December 8, 2017. The Spinoff
