Language, food and gentrification: signs of socioeconomic mobility in two Gothenburg neighbourhoods

Abstract

This paper examines at how language and food intersect and interact in gentrificationprocesses. As a capital-driven social process aiming at enhancing the socioeconomicvalue of urban space, gentrification implies mobility both in the sense that it attractsnew people, businesses and capital to an area, and in the form of displacement ofless affluent and prestigious people, businesses and semiotic resources from centralto marginal urban spaces. The paper examines linguistic and visual traces of suchmobilities in two neighbourhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden. Based on the observationthat food and food practices are central for the production and reproduction of socialdistinction, the analysis centres on food related establishments and signs. In particular,it discusses the distinction-making function of prestigious languages, elite gastronomicregisters, and gourmet food trucks, and how these depend on the marginalizationof low status languages, popular gastronomic registers and cheap generic food carts.People’s interaction with these resources contributes to the reconfiguration of socialand urban space.