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the food service industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the us economy and one of the largest employers of migrants. Yet the migrant farmworkers who pick the fruits and vegetables we eat, and the restau- rant workers who make our food, bring it to our tables, or wash the dishes it is cooked and served on, live on some of the lowest wages in the United States and face segregation and exploitation at the work- place. The strong correlation between food service occupations and the foreign born raises key questions not just about the rights of migrant workers but also the negotiation of boundaries and identities that take place from the farmlands and processing plants to the kitchen, from writing a recipe to deciding on a restaurant menu. What are some of the demands, opportunities, and constraints that migrant workers face in the food industry? How do poor working conditions, from discrimi- natory labor practices to unsanitary kitchens, affect the meals that arrive at our restaurant tables or that we buy from street carts? How does a focus on food consumption and production help us understand migrants' perceptions of the people and places they encounter in their new home as well as their processes of adaption to their workplace and communities in their destination country?
The papers in this section invite us to think about our relation- ship to food, to those who make food-their working conditions, their aspirations-and the multiple meanings and knowledge enveloped in food making. The processes through which migrants create and share their recipes, and the way in which immigrant restaurant owners or mobile food vendors conceive of and experience the process of pro- ducing food, are sites where questions about authenticity, integration, empowerment, and identity, as well as labor rights and sustainability, are productively engaged.
These questions are relevant from the moment the seeds for our produce are planted to the disposal of...