Little emperors in the UK: Acculturation and food over time

Abstract

This paper investigates the acculturation process of a group of Chinese students living in the UK. It emerges from a longitudinal study looking at how participants' social ties affect their food consumption. Drafting from an interpretive study using focus groups discussions, it shows that participants' food consumption patterns change over time in relation to participants' social ties. Three acculturation phases have been individuated. They show that ethnic and non-ethnic ties influence participants' acculturation process. Students with strong ethnic ties consume Chinese food for maintaining their ethnic identity and resisting host food culture. Students with weak ethnic ties consume Chinese food to maintain their ethnic identity and global consumer culture food to resist host food culture. Participants with strong non-ethnic ties have a wider knowledge of host food culture, but they do not consume it more than students with weak non-ethnic ties.