Culinary Markers of Cultural Difference in Mohsin Hamid’s the Reluctant Fundamentalist
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Abstract
Food is a significant element of culture. Culinary habits are culturally determined. Different communities and nationalities have their respective culinary choices and inhibitions. Further, culinary cultural differences become prominent in the case of the individuals in diaspora. In the basic, homeland – host nation paradigm, food assumes a defining role as cultural assimilation in diaspora, also demands culinary assimilation. An immigrant’s ethnic cultural identity is also defined by the culinary practices. Further, food also is linked with psych-sociology as Roland Barthes observes. This paper is an attempt to analyse Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, to identify the culinary markers of cultural differences between Pakistani ethnicity and the culture of the host nation – the USA. The paper uses tenants and tools of Cultural Studies and Food Studies to examine the cultural context of the novel. Further, the paper will also focus on the central character, Changez and his efforts to negotiate his identity through a series of culinary situations.