Honoring Identity Through Mealtimes in Chinese Canadian Immigrants

Abstract

Mealtimes are opportunities for social interactions and expressions of individual and family identity, and serve as a microcosm of the broader lives of families living with dementia. The Eating Together study and its resulting Life Nourishment Theory (LNT) explicated the importance of mealtimes for honouring individual and family identities in the context of dementia. This sub-study examined a specific ethnocultural group with cultural food-ways and caring expectations, to determine if the concept of honouring identity needed to be modified or extended. Using active interview techniques, two Cantonese speaking researchers completed dyad/triad family and individual interviews with six Chinese Canadian immigrant families, recruited from two service providers in a large, urban, multicultural city. This sub-study provided insight into the challenges and rewards of mealtimes for Chinese immigrant families with dementia in the community and specifically provided further insights into the honouring identity concept. Although LNT and specifically the honouring identity concept was generally confirmed in this group, some culturally-specific themes were also identified. This work serves as a basis for future studies examining the meaning and experience of mealtimes in specific cultural groups living with dementia. Such work would confirm if the LNT can be applied to specific ethnocultural groups as well as the general population living with dementia.

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“…traditional food not only on normal weekdays, but also on festive and national holidays was a reminder of their home country bringing the residents back to their roots, cultural background and identity. This is consistent with earlier studies, showing that meals have an important role in shaping a cultural identity (Lam & Keller, 2015;Sidenvall, 1999). If dementia is seen as a state of homelessness (Norberg, Ternestedt & Lundman, 2017; Zingmark, Norberg & Sandman, 1993), due to the fragmentation of the effected person's personality, this homelessness needs to be countered on several levels; to the sense of self, the people in the environment and the objects or the social context in which they are cared for.…”

“…Meals are served several times during the day to keep the residents in a good physical and nutritional status. Besides nutritional reasons, meals are playing an important role as a social event and it is related to culture(Lam & Keller, 2015;Sidenvall, 1999). The food traditions of individuals are often shaped by the individual upbringing and social environment in where food is served and eaten (Andersson, 2005; Chaudhury, Hung & Badger, 2013, Evans, Crogan & Shultz, 2005; Fjellström, 2004;Meiselman, 2008).…”

Traditional Meals and Sense of At-Homeness – Finnish Immigrants with Dementia in Bilingual Residential Care in Sweden

“…traditional food not only on normal weekdays, but also on festive and national holidays was a reminder of their home country bringing the residents back to their roots, cultural background and identity. This is consistent with earlier studies, showing that meals have an important role in shaping a cultural identity (Lam & Keller, 2015;Sidenvall, 1999). If dementia is seen as a state of homelessness (Norberg, Ternestedt & Lundman, 2017;Zingmark, Norberg & Sandman, 1993), due to the fragmentation of the effected person's personality, this homelessness needs to be countered on several levels; to the sense of self, the people in the environment and the objects or the social context in which they are cared for.…”

“…Meals are served several times during the day to keep the residents in a good physical and nutritional status. Besides nutritional reasons, meals are playing an important role as a social event and it is related to culture (Lam & Keller, 2015;Sidenvall, 1999). The food traditions of individuals are often shaped by the individual upbringing and social environment in where food is served and eaten (Andersson, 2005 Meiselman, 2008).…”

Traditional Meals and Sense of At-Homeness – Finnish Immigrants with Dementia in Bilingual Residential Care in Sweden

“…Meals are served several times during the day to keep the residents in a good physical and nutritional status. Besides nutritional reasons, meals are playing an important role as a social event and it is related to culture (Lam & Keller, 2015;Sidenvall, 1999). The food traditions of individuals are often shaped by the individual upbringing and social environment in where food is served and eaten (Andersson, 2005;Chaudhury, Hung & Badger, 2013, Evans, Crogan & Shultz, 2005Fjellström, 2004;Meiselman, 2008).…”