Food for action. Culinary experiences and participation by undocumented migrants in Liege

This paper aims at showing how actions related to food – among other cultural activities – enable migrants to participate in the socio-cultural and political environment in which they live. In particular, through ethnographic material, I will describe the preparation of meals for local population by a group of undocumented migrant women living in Liege as means to take active role in the life of the city, in spite of being excluded from it in terms of legal status and rights. Through preparing food at local events, and through interacting with local organisms (associations, services, institutions), undocumented migrant women position themselves as active subjects contributing to local dynamics. For example, in collaboration with a local cultural association, they organize some tables d’hôtes in the house that they are occupying to offer meals that combine sub-Saharan African culinary traditions with local recipes and values (creating some repas métissés). In fact, specifically in the neighborhood where this activity takes place, ecological preoccupations drive food habits in terms of supplying practices and cooking methods. The exploration of these and other examples shows how food – and sharing food in particular – can be the material and discursive site for establishing relevant relationships and claiming rights. Undocumented migrants, whose demand for regular stay in Belgium has been rejected and who find themselves lacking civic rights, manage to find a – though unstable – place in the hosting society thanks to the performance of cultural practices involving local people and engaging with contextual dynamics.