Reinventing tradition: eating, remembering and sustaining Tibetan identity

This article examines the role of food in the (re-)invention and reconstruction of Tibetan cultural traditions outside Tibet. Drawing on ethnographic research among Tibetan communities in Europe and Asia, it explores how culinary practices become key sites for representation of Tibetan identity. Through interviews, autobiographical reflections, participant observation and recollections of food and eating practices in Tibet prior to 1959, the study shows how these foodways become key sites for expressing ‘Tibetanness’, negotiating authenticity, and maintaining cultural resilience in new social and economic contexts. By placing present-day diasporic food practices in dialogue with memories of pre-1959 Tibetan food, the article highlights both continuities and transformations, revealing how adaptation shapes what is now presented as ‘traditional’ Tibetan food. Engaging with theories of invented tradition, the article argues that Tibetan culinary practices exemplify how displaced communities actively produce and adapt traditions, using food as a medium to sustain collective memory, identity, and continuity outside Tibet.