Wanni W. Anderson
Department of Anthropology, Brown University
Most studies of Muslim food concentrate on the Islamic halal food as a symbol of Muslimness. This paper takes a different approach. It analyses the foodways of Nipa Island on the Andaman Coast as encoding also other messages. They convey information about the core diet, the secondary diet, and the periphery diet of the community. What are the types of food eaten, how is the food served, to whom it is served, and when it is served carry coded meanings about social relationships, status, its celebratory context, and a Thai Muslim largess to non-Muslim Others.
(Presented in the International Conference – Thai Food Heritage: Local to Global, 4-6 August 2009, Tawana Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by The Project of Empowering Network for International Thai Studies (ENITS), Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from the Thailand Research Fund (TRF))