Affiliative Emplacement: Festival Foodwork Among (Im)migrant Kodavathee Mothers

ABSTRACT

Within transnational contexts, ethnic minority Coorg festivals are conducted via the prominence of festival foodwork by Kodavathee immigrant mothers. In the absence of geographical proximity to the homeland of rural Kodagu due to (im)migration, festival food becomes a means to enculturate ‘good’ Coorg diasporic children with appropriate affiliative culinary identification to this ‘vanishing’ community. (Intra)domestic efforts to create emotional emplacement for transnational Coorg children are strategically positioned viz-a-viz other pan-‘Hindu’, Brahmanical religious festivals. Qualitative interviews with 43 Kodavathee (im)migrant mothers from urban, multicultural Sydney (Australia), multiracial Singapore and multi-ethnic Mysore (India), yielded how festival food took on a significant role in firstly: vicarious performances of emplacing Kodagu within the (im)migrant Coorg family context; and secondly in nesting children within an insider food culture which is celebrated in-group yet underplayed in more pan-Hindu contexts. While more publicly lauded performances of enacting ‘appropriate Hinduness’ for pan-Hindu (Diwali) celebrations was conducted, there was an umbilical sustenance sought in Coorg festival foods where in-group intimacies were privately nurtured through the culinary distancing from other non-Coorg Hindus.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiculturalism
• diaspora
• festival
• foodwork
• immigrant
• ethnicity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Akki otti is a ‘flat bread made of a thick paste of ground rice and salt, rolled out between a damp cloth and cooked on a flat iron pan until crisp’ (O’Brien 2013).

2 Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently publicized pandi curry to a global stage in the National Geographic series titled Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted where in one episode he explored the cuisines of Southwest India.

3 The research was funded by an International Macquarie Research Excellence Scholarship (iMQRES) (subsequently changed to a Macquarie Research Excellence Scholarship (MRES)). It was approved by the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee in 2013. Informed consent was sought from participants who signed a consent form after reading a participant information sheet and asking any questions. I am deeply appreciative and enormously indebted to all the participants who despite being busy mothers, took the time and effort to speak to me and to help contribute to the project.

4 Okka refers to the tightly unified patrilineal joint family clans upon which the foundations of Coorg social organization are centered around.

5 Yamuna explained ‘This is a modern version of what was practiced in Coorg in days bygone, when Coorgs went to the river Kaveri and offered these items in gratitude for her abundant blessings’, highlighting an interesting adaptation to observances of the festival. The kitchen tap serves as a proxy to honour and remember Goddess Kaveri, the source of Kodagu’s natural blessings and the trans-positioning of sacred space occurs.

6 Thambuttu is ‘made with the mashed pulp of a local variety of banana known as mara balé. These bananas have a dense, creamy flesh with a subtle hint of tanginess that complements their sweetness’ (http://www.acookeryyearincoorg.com/?p=445). Grated coconut, ghee, rice flour, fenugreek and cardamom is added to this.

7 New (lunar) Year celebration observed by many Hindus in the Deccan region of India.

Additional information

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Bittiandra Chand Somaiah

Bittiandra Chand Somaiah is a Research Fellow in the Asian Migration cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Her research interests include gendered experiences of migration, carework, and food.