Malaysian Foodways: Acculturation/Assimilation Towards Authenticity Sustainability among Diasporic Community

Abstract

Maintenance of traditional foodways through the authenticity is one of the elements related to the preservation of group identity. Nevertheless, the topic of authenticity sustainability has been relatively neglected in cultural studies until recently. Authenticity is widely evoked in the analysis of antiques, art objects and certain kinds of tourism, but not in discussion of ethnic foods. Authenticity of foods is questionable with the existence of the acculturation and assimilation in the immigrants' cuisine particularly among Malay diasporic community in UK in order to prepare their "home" traditional foods. Therefore, some empirical evidence on this issue needs to be explored.