Eating Together

Accepting the challenge of rethinking connections of food, space and identity within everyday spaces of "e;public"e; eating in Malaysia and Singapore, the authors enter street stalls, hawker centers, markets, cafes, restaurants, "e;food streets,"e; and "e;ethnic"e; neighborhoods to offer a broader picture of the meaning of eating in public places. The book creates a strong sense of the ways different people live, eat, work, and relax together, and traces negotiations and accommodations in these dynamics. The motif of rojak (Malay, meaning "e;mixture"e;), together with Ien Ang's evocative "e;together-in-difference,"e; enables the analysis to move beyond the immediacy of street eating with its moments of exchange and remembering. Ultimately, the book traces the political tensions of "e;different"e; people living together, and the search for home and identity in a world on the move. Each of the chapters designates a different space for exploring these cultures of "e;mixedness"e; and their contradictions-whether these involve "e;old"e; and "e;new"e; forms of sociality, struggles over meanings of place, or frissons of pleasure and risk in eating "e;differently."e; Simply put, Eating Together is about understanding complex forms of multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore through the mind, tongue, nose, and eyes.