The relational and dynamic nature of biocultural diversity. Foods and gastronomic knowledge in multi-ethnic migrants’ settlements in Naivasha, Kenya

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, we discuss the relational and dynamic nature of biocultural diversity in urban and multi-ethnic settlements inhabited by migrants working in flower and horticultural farms in Naivasha, Kenya. Migrants cope with vulnerable livelihoods and low wages by devising several strategies for food procurement, among which food transfers and exchange play a key role. Through semi-structured and retrospective interviews with migrant workers, we investigated the diversity of foods generated by transfers from migrants’ rural areas of origin to Naivasha and by further exchange of these foods and associated knowledge among fellow workers in the settlements where they live. As the foods traveling to Naivasha reflect the biological, ethnic, and gastronomic diversity of all Kenya, as much as migrant workers do, we argue that biocultural diversity converges to the informal settlements, which become sites where foods overcome ethnic boundaries, food meanings are reconfigured, and gastronomic syncretism and innovation occur.