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Destination China pp 175–199Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Culinary Globalization from Above and Below: Culinary Migrants in Urban Place Making in Shanghai

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Abstract

Based on ethnographic research in Shanghai, this chapter shows how migrants from around the world have remade Shanghai’s cityscape over the past three decades. These entrepreneurs include chefs who have opened restaurants and bartenders who became bar owners. Some own multiple venues, and a few have created chains with strong brand identities. Foreign migrant food and beverage entrepreneurs, despite their relative small numbers, have been a major force in recreating the image of Shanghai as a global city in the Opening and Reform Era, sometimes reusing spaces that foreigners had developed in Shanghai’s Republican Era but also creating new cosmopolitan urban geographies. This chapter traces out their patterns of migrant entrepreneurship, looking at how they are able to find niches and create markets in a very competitive local industry. At the same time, the chapter also explores how they have created labor markets and pathways to entrepreneurship for both younger migrants and People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizens in their industry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These numbers include all the multiple outlets of the same chain shops.

  2. 2.

    This project of writing about urban foodscapes thus can be regarded is a form of public scholarship to “sell” the host society on the benefits of migration. For a clearer example, see also my website about neighborhood Tokyo at www.nishiogiology.org

  3. 3.

    Interviews in winter 2005 with two finance officers (anonymized).

  4. 4.

    http://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/en/asias-50-best-restaurants.html (accessed Dec. 1, 2015).

  5. 5.

    Interview with Scott Melvin, Sept. 11, 2011.

  6. 6.

    Interview with Taka Niuya, Sept. 13, 2011.

  7. 7.

    Interview with Haya Ronen, Aug. 26, 2005; also Alexis Chiu. 2003. “‘Mediterranean’ Mama” Shanghai Star, March 3, 2003. http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2005/0303/pr13-1.html

  8. 8.

    Interview with Ivan, March 12, 2014, and September 2016.

  9. 9.

    Interview with Alexandre Daune, March 1, 2013; Tom Mangione. 2012. “Bar Review: Les Café’ des Stagiaires” Talk Magazine http://shanghai.talkmagazines.cn/issue/2012-03/bar-review-les-caf%C3%A9-des-stagiaires (accessed Dec. 1, 2015).

  10. 10.

    Interview with a long-term restaurant owner on Wulumuqi Road, Sept. 15, 2015.

  11. 11.

    Interviews with Kathleen Lau, Dec. 27, 2013, Sept. 18, 2016.

  12. 12.

    Interview with Bob Boyce, Sept. 19, 2016.

  13. 13.

    https://www.amrest.eu/en/about-us/history (accessed Nov. 26, 2015). Rumors about Boyce’s share in the buyout were widespread in Shanghai culinary circles.

  14. 14.

    http://www.chinaconnections.com.au/en/magazine/back-issues/107-may-june-2012/1444-wagas-its-all-in-the-name (accessed Sept. 10, 2015).

  15. 15.

    Interview with Scott Minoie, Sept. 16, 2016.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

    James Farrer

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  1. James Farrer
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Correspondence to James Farrer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Xiamen, Xiamen, China

    Angela Lehmann

  2. University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

    Pauline Leonard

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Farrer, J. (2019). Culinary Globalization from Above and Below: Culinary Migrants in Urban Place Making in Shanghai. In: Lehmann, A., Leonard, P. (eds) Destination China. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54433-9_8

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