Duck & diaspora: eating dialectically in a settler-colonial food system

ABSTRACT

What can Pekin duck tell us about diaspora and settler colonialism? In this paper we answer this question by introducing “eating dialectically,” inspired by community activist Grace Lee Bogg’s understandings of “thinking dialectically” and her challenge for us to “grow our souls” in the context of many crises we continually face. We focus on how Pekin duck is consumed and produced within the Greater Toronto Area. This piece offers three duck meals to ruminate on often ignored connections between diasporic foodways in multicultural cities and the rural areas that provide them ingredients. We present and troubleshoot a practice of “eating dialectically” which aims not only to raise critical food consciousness but also push us all to reimagine ourselves, our futures, and the foods that feed our souls anew. We conclude by briefly discussing the limitations of eating dialectically and our abilities to reimagine ourselves and our food futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora
• settler colonialism
• food justice
• Chinese Canadian studies
• family farms
• ingredient-branding
• local food

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. This decision was inspired through conversations with Jennifer Shutek on digital ethnography.

2. Notably in 1945, A & P Food Stores “Chicken-of-Tomorrow” contest also prompted “A Change of Gigantic Proportions” in the North American postwar Poultry industry; synergistically, the Cornell Duck Research Laboratory and the Long Island Duck Farmers Cooperative were established, which would finance and ensure the longevity of a niche industry (Shrader 1952, 1; Kellam 1983), meeting the demand for duck led by Chinese North American restaurateurs a few decades later.

3. See: https://www.ducks.ca/dustbowl/ Accessed November 2022.

4. See: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/res/information-backgrounder/ducks-unlimited-canada Accessed November 2022.

5. For current yelp reviews see: https://www.yelp.ca/biz/qjd-peking-duck-restaurant-markham-4.

6. See: https://superiorseasons.localfoodmarketplace.com/Producer/183ac6d4-aa1d-41c5-ac30-6f32f5cdfdf1.

7. See: https://kingcoleducks.com/our-story/ Accessed November 2022.

8. See: http://dailoto.com/ accessed November 2022.

9. See: https://www.culinarytourismalliance.com/feast-on and https://www.yorklink.ca/2021-agri-food-forum/ Accessed November 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Koby Song-Nichols

Koby Song-Nichols is a PhD candidate in history and food studies at the University of Toronto. His current research examines how Chinese food and foodways have fed intercultural, intergenerational and diasporic relations and communities in the multicultural cities of Toronto, Montreal and Phoenix. Through learning from community wisdom and amplifying Chinese Canadian and Chinese American voices, his research aims to help us recognize and reimagine the many ways that we all relate to each other.

Katie Konstantopoulos

Katie Konstantopoulos is an independent researcher and community-oriented land use planner who can often be found exploring the geographical intersections of food, memory, and the body in settler-diasporic communities. Using their HBA in Sociology from the University of Toronto and Certificate in Sustainable Planning and Development from Seneca College, they write, design, and collaborate with rural/agricultural communities in Southern Ontario. Recognizing the role of planners as Treaty People, their work advocates for land use planning and community engagement that addresses systemic injustices and builds equitable futures.