Chapter 7 - “Home and away” – narratives of food and identity in the context of urbanization in Malaysia

In this study, we use food as a lens to explore the impact of the rural-urban migration on the sense of identity among single, male Malaysians who migrated to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur for work in the 1980s. Following Tibère (2015), we explore the ways the increasing contact between diverse ethnic groups in the cities has contributed to the emergence of innovative ways of regulating multicultural co-habitation through commensality. We conclude that the longing for local and ‘authentic’ foods coexist with the desire among urban residents for hybrid national cultures and transcultural foodscapes.