Quintessential Local Food and White Americans’ Attitudes toward Asian Immigrants

• In Event: Local Political Context and Representation

Abstract

How does ethnic minority immigrants’ expressed appreciation of quintessential local food influence natives’ attitude toward these immigrants? Previous studies have measured immigrants’ level of assimilation into local culture in two conventional ways: language and religion. However, much less attention has been paid to whether immigrants’ expressed willingness to assimilate into local culture through local food can influence natives’ attitudes toward these immigrants. Therefore, I investigate whether ethnic minority immigrants’ demonstration of local cultural assimilation, via their expressed liking of quintessential local food, can positively affect White Americans’ attitudes toward these immigrants.
To examine whether ethnic minority immigrants’ expressed appreciation of quintessential local food can improve White Americans’ attitude toward these immigrants, I utilize Texas Barbecue. Food has not been used to measure cultural assimilation of immigrants in the United States because there is not a readily indefinable ‘American cuisine’. In the end, as the land of immigrants, the American demographic composition is inherently multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. However, Texas Barbecue can be considered as a readily identifiable local, or ‘Texan’, cuisine. In addition to being named “Texas” Barbecue literally, Texas Barbecue is historically and culturally deemed a ‘Texan’ cuisine that is not genuinely associated with any other country or culture (Rhodes 2020). I also utilize Asian immigrants, as opposed to other ethnic minority immigrant groups, in this study because Asian immigrants are generally considered as “perpetual foreigners” (Reny and Barreto 2021, 213) that are known to be particularly unwilling to assimilate into American culture compared to other ethnic immigrant groups (Siu 1952). Moreover, Asian immigrants are also less associated with Texas barbecue than other ethnic groups (e.g., White, Black, or Latino immigrant groups) in the United States (Rhodes 2020). I therefore examine whether Asian immigrants’ expressed appreciation of Texas Barbecue can meaningfully improve White Texans’ attitudes toward these immigrants.
In doing so, I conduct a survey experiment where I show an original YouTube video of South Korean immigrants explicitly showing their love for Texas Barbecue (treatment condition), versus an original YouTube video that does not show South Korean immigrants expressing appreciation for Texas Barbecue (control condition). Results show that White Texans that watched the treatment YouTube video were not only more likely to support pro-immigration policies (e.g., more likely to support permitting more South Korean immigrants into the U.S. & more likely to support providing easier path to American citizenship for South Korean immigrants ) compared to those who watched the control condition but also were more likely to demonstrate improved attitudes toward South Korean immigrants on the personal level (e.g., more willing to become friends with South Korean immigrants). Therefore, the results provide meaningful implications on the role that local food cultural assimilation has on how White Americans evaluate ethnic minority immigrants.

Link to treatment condition YouTube video - https://youtu.be/bKw9wdYSgz0
Link to control condition YouTube video - https://youtu.be/pW5AIAZzsh4

Author

• Seung Wook Ethan Yoo, University of Texas at Austin