From Abidjan to Jakarta: How Cities Are Reinventing the Way We Eat
“Junk food,” “MacDonaldization” of the world: the most negative perceptions of food are often linked to urban spaces.
Audrey Soula, University of Montpellier; Nicolas Bricas, CIRAD and Olivier Lepiller, CIRAD
Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama at a canteen in Hanoi, Vietnam (May 23, 2016). Pete Souza/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-ND
The city would thus be the prime setting for the dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological transition—marked by “empty calories” and ultra-processed foods. By extension, it would be responsible for obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, diet-related cancers, and increasing exposure to chemical residues.
As a prime hub for commercial consumption and the industrialization of food—through its supermarkets, where numerous products imported from international markets compete—the city embodies the “Walmartization” of the world.
Because the West underwent this process before other regions of the world, and because the major corporations in the food system originated there, some equate this shift with the “Westernization” of the diet. The nutritional composition of diets is certainly changing in the same direction everywhere, albeit at varying rates: the share of carbohydrates in energy intake is decreasing, that of fats is increasing, and animal proteins are replacing plant proteins, while consumption of industrially processed foods is skyrocketing.
However, eating is not limited to simply consuming food. Thus, although influenced by global trends, individuals’ eating habits are also shaped by their perceptions, their environments, and their local roots.
Socio-anthropological studies that focus on fine-grained levels of observation examine not only what people eat but also how they organize themselves to do so, what they say about it, and what they think about it. For eating is much more than simply nourishing oneself—even for the most vulnerable populations. It is about taking pleasure, maintaining connections with others, forging relationships with one’s environment, and building and expressing individual and collective identities.
City dwellers faced with conflicting directives
When it comes to food, city dwellers are influenced by a multitude of normative guidelines, between which they are constantly navigating and which may even be contradictory.
For example, Mexicans face a paradoxical dilemma. The Ministry of Tourism and the Economy has adopted a strategy of promoting Mexican street food, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2019.
Obesity prevention campaign by the Mexican Ministry of Health. Author provided
At the same time, many discourses promote health and nutritional standards that sometimes clash with this cuisine, blaming it for cardiovascular disease and obesity.
It is easy to imagine the concern that the contradiction between these two normative frameworks can cause.
But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that nutritional standards are interpreted differently across social groups, and that individuals navigate this tension between nutrition and cultural heritage depending on their eating situations, within a broader context where Mexican cuisine remains very popular.
"South-South" Chains
It is true that cities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia are seeing the expansion of international supermarket and fast-food chains.
Hanoi’s first supermarket, for example, opened in 1998. Today, the city has dozens of them, including a massive mall with nearly 150 stores operated by the Korean chain AEON, which opened in 2015.
A Hungry Lion sign, a South African fast-food chain, here in Cape Town, South Africa, 2019. Discott/Wikimedia, CC BY
Another example is Hungry Lion, a South African fast-food chain modeled after KFC and founded in 1997, which now has nearly 200 restaurants in Southern Africa. It is owned by the Shoprite holding company, Africa’s largest food retailer with nearly 3,000 stores, which is also South African. But the evolution of their food systems is far from being limited to this industrialization.
The urban grassroots economy is giving rise to new cuisines
The urban grassroots economy remains the dominant force in feeding city populations and is constantly innovating new practices and new cuisines, far removed from the strategies of major economic players.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, the kampungs (literally, “villages”) are poor neighborhoods where the so-called “informal” economy predominates.
These areas are characterized by heavy foot traffic and a constant mix of people—many of whom are recent immigrants from rural areas—as well as by very cramped living conditions. Many residents do not cook at home due to a lack of equipment, skills, space, or time.
A particular type of food establishment has sprung up in these neighborhoods: the warung makan, which offer inexpensive, homemade dishes.
A "warung makan sate kerbau/sapi Jepara" restaurant in Indonesia. Midori, CC BY-NC-ND
These establishments—a sort of public kitchen where customers serve themselves, bring their own dishes, and enjoy flexible payment terms—help preserve eating habits that are perceived as traditional and domestic, while facilitating the maintenance of community-based food-related social interactions.
The distinctions between the domestic and commercial spheres, and between public and private spaces, are blurred here, prompting us to reconsider the scale of analysis when it comes to food—which, in this context, relates less to the home or household than to the residential complex or neighborhood.
The Invention of Truly Urban Cuisines
Casual dining is a melting pot of culinary innovations where various normative imperatives are combined and compromises are forged.
Often originating in the working classes, these new urban dishes are also gaining popularity among the middle classes and, in some cases, have become symbols of identity for an entire city or even a country. This is the case withattiéké-garba in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
A garbage dump in Cocody, YouTube.
This popular dish, which originated in restaurants frequented by young people near universities—known as “garbadromes”—was initially developed in opposition to hygiene standards perceived as non-African. By eating garba, diners assert an urban, Ivorian, and nonconformist identity. This dish consists of low-qualityattiéké (cassava couscous), topped with pieces of fried salted tuna and served “wet”—that is, generously drizzled with frying oil, ideally browned by successive rounds of frying, as a mark of quality!
Despite frequent criticism labeling it Ivorian “junk food”—particularly due to allegations of questionable hygiene regarding the dish and the establishments where it is served—garba is recognized as a favorite among the general public.
Originally sold by Nigerien immigrants drawn to the vibrancy of the Ivorian capital and popularized by urban student youth, the garba has now become a symbol of Abidjan’s—and indeed, Ivorian—identity.
How to Make Babendâ.
In Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, babenda—originally a rural dish specific to the Mossi ethnic group—is gradually gaining recognition as a dish that defines the city’s identity, though through a different trajectory.
It was a “soudure” dish—a porridge made from the last remnants of millet combined with the first leafy vegetables of the new rainy season. Improved versions, using ground corn or cracked rice instead of millet—thanks to their greater availability in the city—are now offered and consumed by ethnic groups other than just the Mossi.
Some dishes disappear, while others are created
Highlighting the creativity of cities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia—and their ability to innovate in the area of food—can help counter a perspective that emphasizes these cities’ dependence on international markets and capital, as well as the Westernization of the world.
In reality, these two trends go hand in hand. While it’s true that so-called “traditional” dishes are being lost, new dishes are being invented.
"Obama Combo," the menu at the popular restaurant where Barack Obama had lunch in Hanoi. O. Lepiller, Photo courtesy of the author
While it is true that globalized food cultures and practices are evident in cities across the Global South, this does not simply amount to an erosion of local food traditions.
While globalized products are certainly becoming more widespread, they are used differently depending on the city and, within each city, the social class. In India, for example, Maggi instant noodles—associated with a desirable form of Western modernity—have found their place in middle-class lifestyles by leveraging the marketing persona of “Maggi Mom,” which has helped alleviate guilt over saving time—a practice that might otherwise be seen as a transgression of the role of the nurturing, loving mother.
In 2009, an advertisement for Maggi (Nestlé) vegetable noodles, a “healthy” and nutritious product prepared by a mother.
These processes of local adaptation and reinterpretation of globalized products have been analyzed using the iconic example of pizza.
Systems That Coexist
The evolution of food systems linked to urbanization cannot be interpreted simply as a shift from household- and artisanal-type systems to industrial-type systems.
These systems coexist and complement one another. They provide resources to address the multiple food-related challenges facing these cities, which often experience rapid population growth. Frequently developed under severe constraints, in urban contexts characterized by “resourcefulness and fluidity, ” these resources serve as tools for adapting to difficult and uncertain situations. Rather than relying on solutions imposed from the outside or driven by technology, we can draw on this treasure trove to promote practices and standards that foster social and economic justice, peaceful coexistence among diverse cultures, public health, and environmental sustainability.
Editions Quae, *Eating in the City*, February 2020. CC BY
This article draws on the authors’ work and their recently published collective volume , *Manger en ville: Regards socio-anthropologiques d’Afrique, d’Amérique latine et d’Asie* (Eating in the City: Socio-anthropological Perspectives from Africa, Latin America, and Asia), published by Quae, which brings together contributions from researchers from these three continents..
Audrey Soula, Anthropologist, CIRAD, UMR Moisa, University of Montpellier; Nicolas Bricas, Socio-economist, researcher at the University of Montpellier and CIRAD, and holder of the UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems, CIRAD and Olivier Lepiller, Sociologist, Researcher at CIRAD, UMR Moisa, University of Montpellier, CIRAD
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.