The American Library in Paris

Food is the most common way to approach the issue of identity. To a large extent what one eats can mean who one is, to which culture one belongs or even how one negotiates one’s belongings. Through food, one can also reaffirm one’s own culture.

Groups who have migrated around the world often carried with them elements including their taste memories, cooking techniques and agricultural practices of the "homeland." Every nation's diet therefore bears the imprint of countless past immigrations. And while migrations can map the movements of ingredients, foodstuffs, or methods of preparation into new habitats unchanged, they also tell tales of adaptation, substitution, and indigenization.

In this exhibit discover the flavors of the African Diaspora, from Africa to South and Central America, the Caribbean islands, and North America and consider how food has expressed and continues to express identity among groups with African ancestry throughout the world.