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Factors Influencing The Dining Habits Of Japanese And Chinese Migrants At A British Columbia Salmon Cannery, Douglas Ross

Douglas Ross

Little archaeological research has focused on comparing the lives of Chinese migrants in North America with their non-Chinese neighbors, and only a modest amount of work of any sort has been done on Japanese sites. The following study compares archaeological and archival evidence of dining habits among Japanese and Chinese laborers at a turn-of-the-20thcentury salmon cannery in British Columbia. The objective is to explore the role of ethnic tradition and contextual factors in patterns of material consumption, using a theoretical perspective rooted in transnationalism and diaspora. Results indicate the Japanese cannery workers consumed a combination of Asian- and Western-style meals, …