| Chapter 1: | Eating Away at the Past and the Present |
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preparation prompt him to remember his life in China and thus offer him some comfort in an unfamiliar land. As a new immigrant, however, Ralph does not realize that postwar American culture, with its emphasis on individual home ownership and the nuclear family,5 encourages the abandonment of such communal living spaces, abandonment that leads to the dividing of entire homes, not just their kitchens. Furthermore, at this point Ralph does not understand that in order to construct his desired identity of a “typical American” male, he will have to abandon the role of food preparer, a role considered feminine by the dominant postwar culture.
Ironically, Ralph begins to act as a consumer, a traditionally masculine role, when he leaves his apartment, where he has secluded himself from the “outside, white” world, and walks to a nearby grocery store hoping to buy rice, a staple of Chinese cuisine, which he plans to prepare in his kitchen (American 44). Before Ralph can make his purchase, however, “the smell of hot dogs” (44) entices him to leave the store, abandon his culinary plans, and venture onto the city streets where he will take the necessary steps, both literally and figuratively, toward his desired identity of a “typical American” male: “Hot dogs! A step. Ketchup. Another step. Relish. Pickle slices. Even the paper boat began to seem appetizing, glistening in his mind with leftover condiment and grease” (44–45). Ralph then approaches the street vendor and buys several hot dogs, which he eats on the spot:
Despite his feelings of discomfort, Ralph “swallow[s] manfully” (American 45) and, as Rachel C. Lee explains, begins “internalizing codes of American masculinity” (Americas 11) that require him to abandon the role of food preparer and instead act as a self-indulgent food consumer.6