Languages of Food Names and Senses of Place: Translingual Practices of Ethnic Heritage Communities in Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper examines the languages of food and senses of place revealed through traditional food naming by ethnic heritage communities, such as the Hokkiens, in Penang, Malaysia. This study uses ethnographic data, photographic data, geospatial analysis, questionnaire surveys, and interviews to examine (1) how traditional names pertaining to ethnic foods are presented and (2) how traditional Penang Hokkien food names are maintained or standardized toward English/Mandarin. While there is a notable trend of mainstream food narratives emphasizing state-backed national food and the use of main languages in food naming, the present study offers a different glocal understanding of the diversified and small ethnic foods and their translingual naming that highlights the shift in and maintenance of these practices. This study thus extends beyond an account of changing food names to indicate broader linguistic and social changes, possible underlying inequalities, the blurring of ethnic and identity boundaries, the (in)visibility of small ethnic/heritage cultures amid the rise of consumer society and a mainstream national heritage that tends to represent the dominant and majority perspectives.