I began this project with, I admit, sedimented ideas of what Chinese food really is and a protectionist stance on who can (and cannot) make it. What I later came to realise was that, ultimately, this trajectory is limiting because it encircled the idea of cultural authenticity in the context of migrant economies/ecologies in a settler-colonial society. Migration, as I have come to view, invariably disrupts the linear logic of culture being reproduced from generation to generation. This realisation prompted me to question my own position in the Chinese Australian community, as a woman who has grown up in a white, working-class, regional area, but also has the privilege of a tertiary education and proficiency in English.
In writing this thesis I have tried to stay cautious of any tendency to romanticise my connection to Chinese food and culture. However, there was also a simultaneous urge to validate and speak into existence the feelings and experiences I have had with Chinese food and Chinese culture, more generally. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of my writing has been mediating this friction, and I have reminded myself that interrogating my own diasporic position is about both accountability and empowerment. I can now appreciate how difference from whiteness and distance Chineseness has the potential of opening up spaces where hybridity and remixing are the norm, as opposed to allying with tradition. Having said that, I hope that it is clear from my work that Chinese food in Australia ought not to be examined from a lens of loss, but of retrieval and creation. Moving away from a heterogeneity of culture, and towards appreciating its multiplicities.
None of these realisations would have been possible without first setting out to learn about the history of Chinese food. Acknowledging the historical genealogy of Chinese food
(and migration) allowed me to identify patterns of cultural invention and resistance. As a starting point this launched me into thinking about how tastes morph inter-generationally in the Chinese Australian diaspora and how mainstream attitudes towards Chinese food have also changed. Finally, connecting all the dots and mirroring my own self-realisations, I explored the transformative potential of Chinese food on an individual and social scale. I have demonstrated in this thesis that Chinese food is far more complex than it might appear. It is an interesting and accessible place from which to articulate and understand power, difference, and identity.
I sincerely hope that my thesis will contribute to a widening conversation on Chinese Australian migrant economies and ecologies. As mentioned in my introduction, a further point I would like to explore in the future is how these migrant assemblages can best work in collaboration with Indigenous communities, as reparations for (furthering) colonial violence and dispossession. Kylie Kwong, who I discussed in the second chapter of my thesis, has been using native Australian ingredients in her modern-Chinese restaurant. Kwong sources her produce from a company called Outback Pride, who endeavour to provide employment and training opportunities to remote Indigenous communities (Burgess, Kerryn. “Kylie Kwong on bush tucker”). In an interview about this initiative, Kwong says, ‘the very fact that more and more people are using this beautiful bush tucker is a very important statement in itself. We are saying, in my view, that we support and we respect the indigenous culture here. I mean, it’s about time.’ A topic I would like to explore in the future is how migrant food assemblages can ethically support and enrich Indigenous communities through sustaining local economies in remote areas. This might only be achieved through a commitment to inter- generational communication and cross-cultural labour.
Finally, on a personal and related note, I hope to one day be able to share my thoughts with my mother, and to hear her perspective on Chinese food. These are the conversations which fill me with inspiration and hope for the future.
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