The Polyphony
Intrigued to learn about her favorite order at the hawker center, which also ties back to her Hakka ethnicity, Chok took on the project to study the food history of the Hakka Noodle🍜She analyzes food documentaries detailing the Hakka food business of Chef Pang, who started selling Hakka noodles as a vendor after closing his French patisserie to retrace his ethnic roots in times of cultural destabilization.
These days, as society constantly moves forward for change, older generation tend to keep the traditions and stay behind the curtain of modernization. It is said that they are living in the past, but in fact, they are holding on what is already lost in our current world
As a symbol of culture, the food we consume every day has long been shaping our identity and ethnic imagination. Through the interview with Tiffany Yuka, a Japanese raised in America, her story goes beyond the traditional culinary practices as she navigated through an intersection between her mixed-culture cuisine background and her heritage.
Why is it not the language or the music, but our home food that makes us feel homesick? Let’s follow in Puspa’s footsteps to explore her perspectives on her country’s cuisine—Indonesia—as well as its strong nostalgia within the ‘taste of home’.
Home. A word that often evokes feelings of comfort when used in phrases like “it feels like home.” For me, home is Indonesia. But what if Indonesia doesn’t feel like home anymore, where it does not provide that sense of comfort that it normally does?
It all started exactly 4 years ago…..
Culture shock is a fear that everyone seems to have, but many also wish to experience it firsthand through travel. I was one of those people. When I first arrived in Japan, I was a babe lost in the woods of language barriers and cultural differences. I was wandering around Haneda Airport for most of my 2-hour layover, second-guessing the directions that were given to me. When I arrived at Okayama Airport, I spent 5 minutes trying to translate the name of my hotel to the cab driver. The first day of the Discovery Program’s orientation was spent doing mountains of paperwork that felt so unnecessary at the time.
The Polyphony