Acculturation, foodways and Malaysian food identity

The consumption and preparation of food popularly known as foodways give valuable insights into the community that performs the acts. Foodways through their preparation and consumption are work like a sign system that transcend time and space. They bring meaning from one reality (the past) into another and signal an individual's ethnic connections and competence. Foodways act as the connection between membership in a cultural community, group and significant for identity formation not only for the society but also for the nation. Many scholars claim that foodways of the various ethnic groups in multiracial countries play the biggest role in the country's food identity formation. Scholars also believed that acculturation through food knowledge/language, media and social interaction not only contributes to food culture adaptation among different ethnic groups but gradually creates a food identity. Through acculturation (food knowledge/language, media and social interaction), some of the Malaysian major ethnic foods like Chinese and Indian are believed to be adjusted and adapted by Malay ethnic through the foodways (preparation and consumption) and in turn moderates the Malaysian food identity. Thus, this paper conceptually discusses the links between acculturation, foodways and Malaysian food identity.