Consumption through the eyes of the city.
I.
Consumption has become a vital aspect of modern life and has shaped our identities and lifestyles in a major way. Because consumption can have so many aspects and variants, to explore and answer the questions for this piece, I would use food and shopping as major examples and will explore the two in the context of identity. In this piece I will describe my experiences in New Delhi which has ultimately led to the adoption of my current lifestyle as it relates to consumption, while also touching upon my experience as a student and expat in Mauritius.
New Delhi, being a major professional and creative centre, is a hallmark of the Indian capitalist economy (just second to Mumbai, a major port city). Smaller towns are influenced by a certain aspirational lifestyle of the cities. The reason for that is the inflow and outflow of migrants that inform perceptions of the city-life. Some of the ideas that they bring stay within and create newer variations of older traditions.
In New Delhi, there are many migrants from the North-eastern states of the country and are present across various fields. Poorer migrants are known to open small snack shops called “momo stalls.” Momos are a popular delicacy in the North East, globally known as dumplings or dimsum. One can find many fast-food stalls in the city opened not just by migrants, but by locals themselves, with their own take on momos. Traditionally, momos are steamed, but as food in North India is usually fried and spicy, we have some interesting variants like the fried and spicy “Punjabi Tadka” momos.
Growing up, I enjoyed both kinds without thinking much, but my current analysis has renewed my understanding of food and cultural exchange.
A cultural exchange makes food not just about survival, but a privilege to be enjoyed by virtue of living in a melting pot. Food becomes more than just about where it comes from, but how it currently occupies a place in the present social context. This is known as “spatialization of food”. This doesn’t just refer to physical space but social space as well. Being a part of the larger economy, and having a massive cultural impact, the various aspects of the local food industry occupy their own space in the capitalist system. They provide employment to kitchen workers (many of whom are migrants) and enable chefs to innovate on cuisines and compete with other establishments by priding themselves on a ‘unique flavour and taste.’‘Spatialization’ in this sense is also enabled by the dynamics of cultural pride and communal identity.
In big cities, one can also find many fast-food joints by multinational corporations. I have always noticed a certain contrast between the local food stalls, by either migrants or small businessmen, who pride themselves on ‘authentic taste,’ as compared to a standardized offering by a McDonald’s, KFC, or Domino’s.
Since India opened up its markets, multinational corporations have modified their services to cater to local customers in a creative manner. One of the most successful is the McAloo Tikki burger, a localized offering by McDonald’s, that takes the traditional snack Aloo Tikki, and presents it in the form a burger. It involved brilliant market research and was wildly successful. Small food stalls run parallel to these big joints.
Both types of outlets make for a different type of food consumption and galvanize different perceptions of identity. Eating at a McDonald’s or KFC in a country like India, is seen as a status symbol, it being a global brand. It signifies the “comfortable middle class” city lifestyle, where people with disposable incomes can afford to eat at such joints. The local food stalls, on the other hand, signify a unique local identity, formed through an intermingling of other cultures, and becoming a part and parcel of the city. “Momos” is the most recognizable snack in Delhi, even though it comes from the North East. Both momos and “McAlooTikki” have been a huge part of my life growing up and shaped my sense of identity.
I essentially identify as a ‘middle class city boy,’ who takes pride in local cuisine, but also the characteristic of my home city being a melting pot and a major capitalist centre, with a globalized face.
Of course, one can’t talk about a major city without mentioning the meat of consumption: shopping. New Delhi is home to a large number of shopping malls that grew rapidly in the 21st century. As a concept, shopping didn’t enter the Indian lexicon before the 1990s. Previously, buying stuff was simply that; buying. It usually consisted of buying utilities. Indeed, the contrast between ‘buying’ and ‘shopping’ became clearer later on. Buying refers to a simple purchase of a list of items but shopping is a complete experience that consists of researching items, choosing them based on personal preferences (balancing them with identity), socializing (e.g. shopping with friends), and adding novelty to a mundane life. It is a unique form of entertainment that arose with the emerging middle class.
Shopping at malls is considered a status symbol as the goods are seen as ridiculously overpriced. The middle and lower classes in my city usually prefer the open markets (not necessarily “flea markets”). Neighbourhoods like “Jwala Heri” are known specifically to be major shopping centres with open markets, with several small shops providing goods of choice, like toys, shoes, clothes, DVDs, etc. Most of my possessions come from these markets.
These different places constitute wildly different shopping experiences. For the general public, malls are a fancier outing, representing a convergence of “shopping, dining, entertainment, education and culture” and are seen as an exotic foreign import in India. Malls are also seen to fulfil communal needs around consumption that were previously exclusively filled by local retail stores. But they haven’t replaced small shops because they usually house official stores of big corporations and it is impossible for distant corporate consumption to fully understand and be a part of local community. The general public still prefers to socialize around smaller, local shops where they feel a lasting bond. Both malls and shops exist alongside each other and perform different roles in consumer’s lives.
Socializing at local shops is more of a daily practice while mall outings are relatively infrequent. I used to meet my friends regularly on weekdays at small “momo stalls”, while long weekends for me usually meant watching a movie at a theatre usually located in a mall, followed by a dinner at a fast-food outlet, also in a mall.
II.
Consumption as an expat.
In this section I will analyze my personal reassessment of consumption as an international student and expat in Mauritius and how its academic study has helped me in understanding its role in my life and my relationship to it.
I have been living in Mauritius for the past two years now, and my experience as an expat living in a foreign land has affected my style of consumption and my sense of identity as well. Many locals here are of Indian descent and have thus created their own variants of Indian staple foods.
‘Roti’ is an Indian staple bread, also known as ‘chapati’. The way it is traditionally eaten is having a certain curry or vegetable on the side and breaking and eating it piece by piece. In Mauritius, the curries, spices and presentation were a bit different. The roti is rolled over with the curry inside and is eaten whole. I found such a simple difference fascinating. Identities are carried over across geographies and are modified with time. The way a food is consumed, even a simple stylistic change, denotes a different identity. The rolled-over style is uniquely Mauritian and the separate style strictly Indian.
Despite being of the same ethnicity, even religion, it made me distinguish myself as an ‘Indian expat’ in Mauritius. What helped me in the process is understanding cultural intermingling and differences through academic study. For instance, reading a work on how McDonald’s became successful in India (referenced earlier) helped me understand how cultures can be analysed and interacted with. That in turn, shaped my own cultural understanding as an expat.
In my time as a student here, another way I re-examined my idea of consumption is by understanding my own culture. I live in a typical Indian middle-class family. We usually prefer home cooked food, with care taken to buy groceries, meal preparation, cooking and serving. Food shopping and consumption thus is not just passive consumption for us but takes significant time and effort. It can be conceptualized as ‘serious consumption.’
Consumption, or this form of consumption, is not just an economic activity, but a cultural practice as well. This contrasts somewhat with our earlier point about the aspirational lifestyle consisting of “eating out” that is associated with entering the middle class, but eating out is considered a luxury; while daily cooking is seen as a vital part of the Indian identity. Texts like the one by Solier helped me gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of consumption and how it is more than just a ‘positive’ or a ‘negative’, but a valid part of people’s lifestyles.
A reading of “Spaces for consumption” (referenced above) helped me contrast shopping malls with the malls in Mauritius and understand the contrasts and similarities, in addition to the role they play in people’s lives in both countries.
In conclusion, a deeper reflection of my experiences in my home country followed by academic learning in Mauritius helped me gain a broader understanding of what consumption means for me and the various roles it has played in my life.
