Paper Short Abstract:

Through the teaching if ‘not quite right, but good enough,’ simplified Hong Kong recipes shared not through written recipes but communal cooking, Hong Kongers find ways to share their unspoken political beliefs and identity surrounding Hong Kong and their migration, making spaces of unwritten, unspoken, understood identity and community building.

Paper Abstract:

This paper explores how recent Hong Kong migrants adapt Hong Kong-style cuisines to beginner skills and UK food shops, Hong Kongers in Bristol often gathered around food - sharing recipes and cooking techniques as well as comradery. Finding ‘shortcuts’ to recipes, Hong Kongers prepare dishes with the phrase, “it’s not quite right, but it’s good enough!” These recipes are shared in-person, as a central part of socializing, remaining unwritten, as people will simply regather for another demonstration rather than write notes. Centralising the social aspect of knowledge transfer through doing creates a space of ‘productive community’ - gathering around the acquisition of skills. In a carefully depoliticised space of good enough Hong Kong food, identity and allusion to politics painted a silent picture of Hong Kong, recent migration, and the politics of resettling in the UK. While at once I was continually told ‘not to mention politics or why people migrated,’ unsaid, unwritten, but not unheard politics were told to me in round about ways, ‘not quite right (explicit), but good enough’ ways of still conveying political views and reasons for leaving without having to bring up politics. Discussions surrounding food highlight how ‘traditional,’ ‘authentic’ Hong Kong-style food is disappearing in Hong Kong, with the PRC’s ‘mainlandization’ of Hong Kong (Chan, Nachman, Mok 2021). ‘Mainlandization’ led to a mass exodus of not quite refugees, partly to maintain ‘Hong Kong culture and identity.’ Discussions of identity and Hong Kong are left, like the ‘good enough’ recipes, unwritten, unspoken, but not unknown.