The eating place is one of the most frequented sites of cross-cultural interactions. When immigrants move to a new place, they often either look for familiar food or open a restaurant to make a living. People from the host society also experience the initial taste of a different culture at eateries. By narrating the ups and downs of these business establishments, such as Chinese restaurants in Cairo, this workshop seeks to conceptualize restaurants as a site for historical and contemporary diaspora formation. It will also discuss the hybridity and emergence of new cuisines created by different diasporas communities.

Whereas food history is flourishing, history of restaurants is rather limited. Despite their seemingly small scale, restaurants are places through which people, ideas, and tastes encounter and interact with each other. They are often the nodal points where intellectual, commercial, religious and personal networks are established and consolidated. They are also the stage for community image “branding” and memory making. Some restaurants last longer and spread farther (via franchising chains), while others are short-lived. Participants of the workshop provide case studies of restaurants where connections and confluences were established and strengthened and/or, in the case of a communication breakdown, barriers and boundaries were demarcated and reinforced.