Spaghetti with Ajvar: An Ethnography of Migration, Gender, Learning and Change

Abstract

In this chapter, I focus on the changing foodways of Macedonian-speaking Muslims (Torbeshi) in a transnational context. I explore how food practices are used in the development and maintenance of gender and ethnic identities of migrants. I argue that migrants, especially women, actively engage in the new foodscape as they learn new skills and experiment with new tastes. The metaphor of “spaghetti with ajvar” best describes this phenomenon as can reflect the immersion in the cultural and social contexts of both the place of origin (western Macedonia) and the place of settlement (northern Italy). It also shows the mutual influence of these contexts