Cultural Identity Preservation Through Culinary Traditions Among Uzbeks in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This paper examines how members of the Uzbek ethnic group in Kazakhstan preserve their cultural identity through their culinary traditions, a set of food-related practices and social norms. By focusing on cultural meanings associated with traditional foodways, as well as the transmission of its recipes across generations, it investigates how food can play a significant role in the preservation of cultural identity. The research questions are as follows: How do members of the Uzbek diaspora in Kazakhstan preserve their cultural identity through culinary traditions? What factors connected to traditional foodways influence cultural identity maintenance? The study utilizes the framework of foodways suggested by Bennett et al. (1942), which implies a strong connection between food and culture. It also draws upon Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) to understand how traditional food practices can act as a symbolic marker of in-group belonging among the members of the Uzbek ethnic group. To achieve the objectives of this research, online qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young (21-26 years old) and elderly (65-70 years old) male and female members of the Uzbek ethnic group who have managed to preserve their language, traditions, and customs despite living in the territory of the current Kazakhstan for more than five centuries. The interview guide consists of 8 sections and 40 questions. Each section is devoted to a specific element of Uzbek culinary traditions: ethnic identity, daily food practices, celebratory food, transmission of culinary traditions, commensality, gender roles, gastropolitics, and cultural identity. To recruit research participants, snowball and purposive sampling were employed. The collected data were analysed using qualitative coding and thematic analysis. Since most studies on food, culture, and society in Central Asia focus on traditional dishes, overlooking many other components of culinary traditions, this paper contributes to the existing literature by approaching traditional foodways as a social process rather than merely national meals...