Background: Immigrant children who grow up in New York City often express strong connection to the cultural food practices associated with their own, their parents’ or grandparents’ country or culture of origin yet often lament that they...
moreBackground: Immigrant children who grow up in New York City often express strong connection to the cultural food practices associated with their own, their parents’ or grandparents’ country or culture of origin yet often lament that they are unable to cook the signature dishes of their childhood and youth that are part of their cultural identity. The Caribbean Immigrant Cooking Skills and Acculturation Project seeks to understand the process of dietary acculturation as it relates specifically to behaviors and decisions around cooking/cooking skills, shopping, and eating, and how these might be associated with health outcomes in adult Black Caribbean immigrants from English speaking countries and their children and/or grandchildren living in New York City. Black Caribbean immigrants are less likely than other immigrant groups to experience negative effects of dietary acculturation such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, however, their children and grandchildren do not benefit from this protective effect. Methods: One to two-hour in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 female and 3 male participants ages 18-60+ to understand the underlying mechanisms, social behaviors, norms and decision processes of the dietary acculturation in this population. Results: The initial phase of the study has shown that Black Caribbean immigrant families, focus on work and formal education over life skills transfer, however, equally significant were a number of factors including: mothers who accommodated acculturation and fathers who maintained stronger loyalties to cultural heritage; the fear of injury and government interference in the US means that adults retain control over cooking activities and prevent skills transfer; smaller family size; and the younger immigrants’ desire to become enculturated in the US. Conclusion: Dietary acculturation is a desired process in younger immigrant generations, a process which deteriorates their diet and jeopardizes future health, and a process which appears to be accelerating. Retention of culture of origin is desired by adult immigrants, especially fathers; however, given the changes in family dynamics, the rupture of social roles and social support associated with migration, as well as the fact that skills, knowledge and social norms from the country of origin are not passed down to younger generations, further exacerbate the effects of acculturation. Recommendations include community based participatory program development facilitating intergenerational cultural skills and knowledge exchange, e.g. communal cooking classes and oral history projects exploring and validating the immigrant experience. These could facilitate amelioration of some of the challenges faced by immigrants and their families. This project was supported by a grant from the Doctoral Student Research Grant program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
