Reaction Paper Essay Samples

The article goes on to describe how the immigrants came to settle in the east part of the city of London in the United Kingdom. The immigrants started doing business in serving native cuisines over the period of time. The restaurants serve the purpose of business as well as upholding the native culture in the foreign land. Over the years, this place has become famous for the Bengali population that has settled down here. The food industry has paved the way for unity among the immigrants, and has supplemented their identity in the foreign land, upholding their ethnic and cultural identity with the rich heritage from their motherland. The article shows how food can be taken as a cultural signifier that is an important tool in the socio-political struggle of the Bengalis settled in the United Kingdom.
The article is very interesting to read as it brings out a different side of the urban population of the city of London. The immigrants gathered in the particular part of the city over the years. The density of Bengali immigrants in a particular lane of the city signifies that there is the utmost need to be unified so that they can retain their ethnic identity and place in the society.
The article aptly portrays the struggle of the immigrants who have faced racial discrimination. Their unity and stand in the society is intertwined with their dignity and human rights. The people in the Brick Lane have chosen to use their ethnicity as the strongest arsenal against the dominant culture of the land. The people have successfully popularized their culinary skills among the people of the city in the United Kingdom.
In the age of monoculture where the hegemony of the dominant culture steals the show, the immigrants who belong to the Bengali ethnic identity could use no better cultural signifier of their own other than the delicious dishes from Bengal that is the specialty of the Bengali community.
The organization of curry competitions or other festivals by the Bengalis is a major step toward uniting their people. These events also have a greater role to play in the societal relations and economic strategies of the people of the community. This practice has supplemented the process of regeneration to a great degree, and has attracted the non-Bengali people toward the ethnic specialty of the Bangladeshi community.
Food connects this place to the larger arena of global geopolitics. The attempt to popularize a community’s identity with a dish that has its origins in the heritage of the community is a very useful step toward the success of cultural tourism. People of other communities take the curry preparation to be an idiosyncratic thing that is attributed to the people of the Bangladeshi community living in Brick Lane in the city of London, United Kingdom.
The article is a perfect portraiture of the intertwined relationship among the ethnic heritage or signifier of a particular community, society, and cultural identity of the community. The description of the practices and occurrences in the Brick Lane of London makes it clear to one and all how food plays a pivotal role in establishing the immigrants as equals in the alien society with the specialty of their culture, heritage, and food. It becomes extremely clear how culture plays the omnipotent role in shaping the identity of a person, no matter in what milieu the individual is located. Thus, the article in context gives a holistic picture of the struggle of the immigrants, and also describes how the people have successfully established their place in the British society.

Works Cited

Frost, Nicola. “Green Curry: Politics and Place-making on Brick Lane.” Food, Culture and
Society 14.2 (2011): 225-242. Print.